One Step At A Time
by Librarian00X
Summary: One step forward, two steps back. Live and learn - go big or go home. Learn from your mistakes, and never give up. Also, grind like hell. That's all a trainer ever needs to know.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One: This Town Ain't Big Enough...**

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><p>Most people left home so they had an excuse to get a pokemon. I, however, did the exact opposite: I got a pokemon so I could have an excuse to leave home.<p>

Being a trainer was never one of my goals, but I'm not surprised I jumped on the opportunity when it came up. I was planning on running away from home anyway, so why not have some company while I was at it?

Now don't get me wrong: I'm not some ungrateful punk. I know what I should be thankful for and what my P's and Q's are. That's exactly why I was leaving.

I'd been thinking about it for a long time, though only now had I gathered up the nerve to actually do it. I always had some kind of excuse: that my mother needed me, that she was too vulnerable after my ingrate father up and abandoned us, that maybe I wasn't being logical...always some bullshit excuse to keep me cooped up in that cozy little corner of Pallet Town I was comfortable with. I was always a bit spineless; I could talk a good talk, if you pressed me, but that's all I was. Just a bastard girl with no guts and a big mouth. It was a temptation, but I knew I'd never get around to really doing it, so I never bothered. So I just ignored it.

This lasted for about...oh, a year or so. Up until the time where my mom's car got towed and she had half a nervous breakdown about our financial status, when I realized that we really _couldn't_ go on like this. My mother had a hard enough time supporting us when my dad was pitching in, but now that she was supporting the two of us by herself? No way. I tried to get jobs, but businesses weren't interested in some minor without an education, and what I could get wasn't even close to enough. Neither of us would make it if we both were there.

So that's why I decided to run away: so that at least one of us would make it. I'd take my chances with the world while Mom got to enjoy the relief of half the financial burden. None of the kids liked me, I didn't have any big attachments here...no, no more Pallet for me. I was just doing everyone a favor. It was time for me to go.

...which raised a new problem: how the hell did I get out of there?

I stood there at the edge of town, shifting my feet nervously, fingering the straps of my bag full of everything I'd need for the journey ahead of me all the way to Saffron City. The road ahead was stuffed with tall, matted grass that stretched from one end of the path to the other in a tangled carpet, and in that jungle: pokemon. Rattata and Pidgey, specifically. You'd think a big human like me could just kick aside a little rat or bird or something, right? Ha...yeah, except Rattata could bite through your shoe and foot in one chomp, and Pidgey had a particular love of the eyes, hence their favorite place to scratch and kick sand in. So yeah, I could fend off rats and birds...if you gave me a machette. As it was, however...

But I'd come this far, and I couldn't just go back home. I'd left my note on the table for my mother, who was likely still asleep at this hour (I'd decided to leave at dawn), and if I turned back now, I knew I'd never have it in me to try again. So it was now or never.

Never wasn't an option, which meant I had to go now. Straight through the thicket, all the way to Viridian, through the forest, hitch hike my way to at least Cerulean from Pewter, then get to Saffron, where my new future lie. But to get there, I had to take my first step.

Inhaling a breath through my nose, I closed my eyes as I extended one foot-

"Wait! Don't go out!"

_Shit._

My heart nearly burst out of my chest - I thought for sure I'd been caught, that my plans were ruined - but the older man that ran up had a friendly, it not relieved, smile on his face. "Wild pokemon live in the tall grass - it's not safe to go out by yourself." He looked me over briefly as he panted from the short sprint up to me, no doubt noticing my traveling equipment and not seeing a belt lined with red and white orbs strapped to my waist. "You're leaving town, right? Do you have a pokemon with you?"

I cringed, looking enviously out to the grassy route ahead...damn, I needed to get out of there. The sooner the better. "I...yeah, I'm leaving town, but I don't have any pokemon."

Now that I stopped and thought about it, though, I was starting to realize how badly I'd need one. I'd be on foot most of the way to Saffron, and wild pokemon would jump out at anything that got too close to their territory...that, and all the stories about people who'd chanced it and ended up losing fingers and toes to rogue Rattata were starting to come back to me, and it really didn't do good for my faltering courage and resolve.

The older man shook his head. "That won't do, that won't do at all. You need your own pokemon for protection. I've got it - here, come with me!"

I don't know what compelled me to turn around and go after that guy. The implication of what he'd said just seemed too good to be true, and to be honest, I was kind of frightened at the possibility. I mean, I could barely look after a cat, let alone a sentient creature like a pokemon. But really, I didn't have much of a choice; he was right: it _wasn't_ safe. Going it on my own would be suicidal at best. But then again, I couldn't just take another person with me, and I didn't know where to find a...wait, did this guy just offer me..? No, he couldn't have. But here I was, following him, still not believing my ears but too tempted to resist...

He led me back to a big building on the edge of the neighborhood not far from where he stopped me, at which point I realized this old, joyful man must be Professor Oak. I thought it was odd I didn't recognize him...everyone always said he had a fierce quality to him that would belong to a past Champion, but I didn't see it. He was just an old guy with white hair and an energy level above that of what he should have. Wait, Oak...it rang a bell somewhere else. Who else did I know...

As he led me back inside his lab, the whiny voice, haughty look, and spiky hair reminded me of exactly who else I knew with Oak as a last name: Geki. That is, the most obnoxious, arrogant, preppy pretty-boy prick in Pallet.

He looked surprised to see me, though I failed to meet his gaze to confirm it. "Geez, I should have know: too busy rounding up strays to pay attention to your poor, neglected grandson..."

"Mm, the poor boy. When you find him, be sure to send him my way."

I stifled a laugh at that. Geki shot me a look, then looked back to his grandpa. "Speaking of which, why is _she_ here? I'm getting _my_ trainer's license today, not her. And I thought you said I get a pokemon?"

Oak politely ignored him as he returned his attention to me. "Now then," he said professionally, standing up a bit straighter. "Why don't you tell me your name, miss?"

I paused for a moment, then stuttered, "Uh...R-Rein. Rein Green...uh, sir."

Oak nodded, then walked over to his desk, where he wrote something down on a plastic card, which he returned to show me. "This," he explained, "will be your license. It will allow you to carry up to a team of six pokemon, and will grant you official recognition in the Indigo League as a pokemon trainer. Wherever you're traveling, having this, along with a team of other pokemon, will be a great help to you. It may even open up doors to some opportunities you've never considered...in fact, judging by your expression, I'd say you never even considered this one! Am I right?"

Geki's sniggering pulled me out of my stupor, and I realized that I had been staring with wide eyes and an ajar mouth. I had almost started drooling. My face heated up as I stammered back my anxious reply: "E-er...yes, I-I mean, no...I mean..."

Oak merely chuckled with a friendly smile. "It's quite alright, I realize this may be a bit sudden. But if I'm going to lend you a pokemon, I figure it might as well be official. After all, it'd be a shame to give you one if it's just going to get taken away, correct?"

It took a full second for me to register what he'd said, at which point my head shot up, my eyes as wide as salad bowls, blush forgotten. "Wait...you mean you're giving me a...pokemon?"

Geki seemed equally surprised, though considerably more displeased. "No way, gramps, this ain't fair! This is _my _big day!"

"And how, pray tell," Oak replied calmly to his grandson, "would it be fair if I let this young lady walk out into the wild by herself with no way to protect herself from wild pokemon?"

Geki couldn't argue with that, though he loathed to admit it for certain. He just stuffed his hands in his pockets and shut up for a little while, which was always a plus. I hated that guy.

Oak looked back to me now. "Anyway...I'll give you a pokemon, along with your license. However, because you haven't taken three-month training course as of yet, you'll need to get a suggestion from the regional pokemon professor in order to get one...which, coincidentally, would be me." He smiled, expression bearing a mixture of pride and friendliness. "Basically, you do me a favor, and I give you a free pass to the world of pokemon. Whether you take up the opportunities out there or not is up to you; either way, it'd be best if you have a pokemon to go with you, wherever you take yourself. Sound fair?"

Fair? Hell, this was even better than anything I could have dreamed of! "Hell yes! I-I mean, uh, yes, uh, sir."

Oak seemed pleased...or amused. Whatever worked. "Excellent! Here, I have a selection of pokemon out on the table here, so you just take a look at them and tell me which one strikes your fancy..."

Geki seemed outraged. "Whoa, whoa, hold on! What about me? Why does _she _get to go first?"

Oak sighed. "Be patient, Gary. Have a little courtesy for our guest here; I believe her situation's a little more pressing than your own."

What he said could have hinted at prior knowledge of me, but I disregarded it, too busy eying the three spheres of hope and opportunity - within which held a companion, any of which could be my own - on the table thus mentioned. "What are they?"

"Well, why don't you find out for yourself? Bring them out!"

I was hesitant for a minute, handing the first sphere like it was made of glass and it might shatter in my hands, but one push of the central button was all it took to...shrink the sphere to the size of a marble. "Uh..."

Geki burst out into laughter; Oak smiled patiently. "Press the button to enlarge it again, then toss it out in front of you. Be sure not to hit anything."

I nodded, trying to disregard how embarrassing it was to be a rookie. I tapped the button once more, made sure not to drop the thing as it expanded spontaneously in my hands, then tossed the pokeball out in front of me, going for the middle of the room. "Go, uh...whoever you are!"

As if on command, the pokeball cracked in half and spilled white light onto the floor, which eventually shifted and formed into a small, quadrupedal creature with sharp crimson eyes and green skin, a big bulb of some unknown plant type growing directly out of its back. It stretched out with a yawn, stubby little legs extending to their full length, then looked up to me, inquiring in a groggy voice, "Saur?"

I think I fell in love immediately, and not just because it was the first pokemon I'd ever seen both of its kind and that hadn't jumped out and tried to eat me. On top of everything else, it was adorable, and it could be mine. That possibility alone would have been enough to seal the deal, even if the other two pokemon had been the most incredible living creatures on the face of the earth. "Yes. I want him."

Oak arched an eyebrow and gestured to the other pokeballs. "Are you sure? Grass-types are easiest to raise, but there are two pokemon still to choose from over here..."

"No, really. I want him. He's perfect."

Bulbasaur looked rather happy to receive this praise. Oak's lips twitched upright slightly, a ghost of a smile flashing over his features.

As for Geki, he seemed a bit more impatient. "Gramps! I'm sick of waiting!"

Oak sighed wearily. "Fine, Geki, you can choose yours now. I didn't realize you were having a Tauros."

I snickered at this, though Geki ignored me, already swooping over to the remainder pokeballs to make his pick. "Yes! Gramps, which one's Charmander?"

I didn't pay attention after that, going down to my knees to address the little green pokemon staring up at me with curious red eyes. "Hey little guy," I said, offering my hand to him; I didn't know a whole lot about his species or pokemon in general, so I didn't know if he'd want to sniff my hand or hear me talk or what. They seemed a lot like animals to me, but I'd heard that they had the same sentience of people, if not greater. "I'm Rein. Nice to meet you."

Bulbasaur looked a little bit unsure at first, though he eventually did smile, nudging my hand with his head, which prompted me to start to pet his scaly skin. I'm not one for cutesy things, but you have to admit: Bulbasaur are adorable. Look at his little face! Who could turn down that for something probably uglier and less friendly?

Actually, the other two pokemon were kind of cute, too. The first one Geki hungrily grabbed was a small blue turtle, which inquired "Squirtle?" as it looked up to Geki hopefully. Something about this must have been unsatisfactory, though, because Geki withdrew it immediately in a red flash and grabbed the other pokeball, which brought out an orange lizard with a fire on its tail and a small, innocent voice and blue eyes. It, too, looked rather cute, and it must have been the one Geki was looking for, because he was all over it, already preaching on about how badass his "future dragon" would be and how he could "own half of Kanto with this thing!" Neither Oak nor I paid much attention; I was too busy getting to know my little companion, which Oak watched with an odd sort of curiosity and...approval, almost. He wasn't really scary, but there was definitely an element of Oak that I didn't quite get...

After that, Oak gave me my assignment: a package in Viridian I was supposed to pick up and bring back to him. In return, not only would I receive my license, but the very same Bulbasaur I was looking at and petting and oh _god _I loved him already. I had already picked out a name for him: Tyler. I asked Tyler what he thought of the name, and he smiled and cheered "Bulba-saur!" in reply, which I guessed was approval. I committed the name to memory, because I was going to be using it for a while.

Before Tyler and I could leave, however, Geki jumped out in front of us, his newly acquired orange lizard under his arm, who was trying its best not to burn its new trainer. "Hold it! Let's have a battle to see which of our pokemon is toughest!"

I may have been a pokemon newbie, but I wasn't stupid: any idiot could have told you that a fiery lizard against another lizard with a bulb on its back was bad news. Despite my protests, Geki practically chucked his Charmander onto the floor, who managed to land without falling flat on its face, though there was a black mark on the floor where its fire touched. Despite the obvious disadvantage, both with the pokemon and Geki's experience over the lack of mine, Tyler bounded forward with a "Saur, sa!", thus accepting the challenge. I groaned and predicted the outcome: an absolute disaster. Oak just stepped aside to watch and shook his head with a sigh.

I had played enough pokemon games to have a basic understanding of moves, plus what they did, plus maybe even a primordial variation or two of a genuine battle strategy. Apart from that, however, I was completely lost, which Tyler must have picked up on, as he looked back at me with a confident smile and an expectant look in his eyes. I realized then that he was waiting for me to give him a command. "Uh...Growl!"

My first ever command to a real pokemon seemed like a pretty useless one: Tyler growled more cutely than anything else, and Geki's Charmander didn't seem phased in the slightest. Its trainer let out a laugh and stabbed a finger at my pokemon. "Charmander, Scratch!"

The move was exactly what you'd expect: the Charmander dashed forward, did a jump, and slashed its little claws across Tyler's nose, drawing blood in a trio of fine lines. The guy was a trooper, though, because he took the hit and shoved the lizard back, even before I ordered for him to Tackle it.

The battle was pretty simple, since neither of our pokemon knew any good moves: Tyler rushed in and Tackled as Geki ordered his Charmander to Scratch, exchanging one blow for another in rapid succession. It seemed like my first order had paid off, though, because it seemed - at least, to me - that Charmander wasn't doing as much damage as he possibly could. Granted every Scratch still drew blood, but both he and Tyler seemed...equal. Which was surprising, considering the obvious advantages he held over the quadrupedal Grass-type. He would have been stronger otherwise; if not for the Growl, I might have lost.

As bruises and scratches and bloody marks started to add up, both pokemon were starting to lose their momentum. Pumped and eager for the finishing blow, both Geki and I ordered our pokemon to attack in unison, which led for a full-on collision between the two starters that ended with both of them crashing to the ground in a Scratched, Tackled heap, both of them gasping and covered in bruised and bleeding injuries. They looked totally spent.

I was hysterical with worry at the sight. "Oshit, Tyler!" I cried, rushing forward - Geki blurted something about not going out onto the field, but I ignored him, carefully moving both pokemon bodies apart so they weren't laying atop each other. "Shit, shit! Are you okay?"

Tyler was obviously spent and tired, but he managed to pull himself to his feet, one foot raised slightly up off the ground in a shaky stance. "Bul saur, bulba," he said with a grin, looking down confidently at the Charmander beneath him, who was groaning and rolling onto its side in pain. It was obvious what he'd said: _Of course I'm alright: we won. _You could just tell by his expression.

My worry faltered enough for me to let out a laugh, scooping up the scratched and battered Bulbasaur into my arms, not minding the small speckles of blood he left on my shirt. It hadn't been ten minutes since I'd met him, but I already loved that little Bulbasaur to bits.

Geki didn't seem so pleased. "WHAT! Are you kidding me? Goddammit, I picked the wrong pokemon!"

I gave him the finger and walked out, accepting a Potion to clean up Tyler's wounds from the aide who had been watching the battle from the doorway, then happily walked back the way I'd come with a spring in my step, a Bulbasaur confidently marching along beside me.

Here I was, Rein Green: local runaway and school dropout, and I couldn't be more proud of myself. Now all I had to do was rush home and pray my mom hadn't woken up and seen the note I'd left on the table: there had been a change of plans.

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><p><strong><em>AN: <em>**

Huzzaaaaaah. :D

So, here's my first chapter. Short chapter is short, yes, but all Nuzlocke fics must start somewhere! Let there be awesome!

Lemme know what you think: I'm unusually enthusiastic for this one. :3


	2. Chapter 2

_(And let there be Nuzlocke. :3)_

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><p><em><strong>Chapter Two: First Step Forward; First Steps Back<strong>_

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><p>Alright, so things changed up on me a bit that day. I arrived home in time to swipe up and crumple the letter i'd left for my mom to find explaining my runaway status, and while my mom <em>did<em> notice, I had a much nicer story for her that I could deliver in-person: I was going to be a pokemon trainer.

My mom was surprised to say the least, though she warmed quickly up to the idea; apparently she'd been expecting me to say something for some time, since a show she saw said that "all girls dream of travel." I let that one slide and just went on to negotiating my terms of leaving the house: I would call every day to tell her how I was doing, and while she was initially against it, I insisted that I send back a portion of my winnings from my travels so she could manage the house. I had a real reason to leave now, but that didn't mean my priorities had changed any.

After assuring my mom I wasn't leaving quite yet, as I still had to get my actual license, I shared a breakfast with Tyler, who had become my best friend in the course of two hours (not hard to do when you didn't have any friends to begin with) and left to pick up the package for Oak. I was looking forward to being able to really call Tyler my own pokemon.

Before I could even get to Viridian, however, I had to pass through Route 1, which was virtually idiot-proof but still very much in my way and lined with patches of tall grass up to my waist. One patch in particular blocked the road leading from Pallet, officially isolating anyone on foot from the rest of the world. Luckily for me, I had a pokemon now...not that it made me any less nervous, of course. But at least now it wasn't complete suicide.

I had Tyler against my chest by this point, gripping his scaly little body tight against me in a combination of protectiveness and insecurity; he was technically looking after me here, but he was still my responsibility to keep safe. "Okay," I said more to myself than Tyler, sinking one foot carefully, cautiously into the tall grass. Nothing bit it off or lunged out at my face, so I dared another step forward, creeping gradually into the route. "Nothing to be afraid of...just some Rattata and Pidgey. Nothing to be afraid of. Nothing to be-"

Something rustled up ahead, and I let out a sharp gasp, freezing in my tracks. I swear my blood ran cold as I stood there in agonizing stillness, incredibly vulnerable, senses alert and arms tight around my Bulbasaur-security blanket. Much to my relief, nothing - with snarling fangs or otherwise - came out of the grass.

We weren't out of there yet, though: I hadn't taken four steps forward, and I was already scared stiff. I released my grip a little on Tyler when he started to squirm a little bit. "...keep an eye out," I whispered, voice cracking. "O-okay?"

Tyler just looked up at me with his crimson eyes, flashing me a confident, toothy grin. "Saur."

I loved that guy. Seriously. In fact, I was just thinking about how lucky I was to have a cool pokemon like him for a starter when a shape appeared in front of me...and, of course, I screamed bloody murder.

The purple Rattata that had emerged ceased in its menacing glare to look at me like there was something seriously wrong with me. After that, its spine arched and it started clicking its teeth together, making little hissing noises.

It was about the size of a house cat, but it might as well have been a Gyarados. I practically dropped Tyler in a panic, who took up a defensive pose with a determined Growl, already repeating the battle strategy that had worked before with Geki. "Oh god, get it, Tyler!"

Naturally, Tyler kicked its furry Rattata ass. As it limped back into the grass after a barrage of Tackles, though, I couldn't help but feel embarrassed after the fact; there Tyler was, battling and totally confident, and I was over here losing my mind because something jumped out at me. Didn't _that_ just make me feel incompetent; wasn't the trainer always supposed to keep a cool head in these situations? And it was just a Rattata, for Pete's sake! What was I going to do when I started meeting things _really_ scary?

Regardless, I came up to Tyler and pat his head, murmuring my thanks with a blush of shame on my cheeks. I then picked him back up, forcing myself forward into the tall grass with my starter in my arms and a steely expression on my face. No more mister nice guy: time to get serious.

It was a relatively clear trip up the path, taking advantage of what open space was available while trudging carefully through the tall grass when necessary. Ledges and thick trees shepherded me along in a sort of semi-artificial, semi-natural path that really wasn't that hard to navigate. We found a guy in a PokeMart uniform who managed to get his bike jammed between two trees, which I helped him get un-stuck from. He rewarded me with a free Potion as his thanks before we continued on our way, still on the lookout and with one more canister of medical spray in my bag for future use. I already could tell those things were going to come in handy.

Just before we made it through the last bit of grass to Viridian, though, we startled a Pidgey as it preened itself in the reflection of a puddle on the side of the road. It seemed to consider taking off, hesitated, then returned the glare Tyler was sending it, opening its wings to make it look larger and more formidable. It was still just a Pidgey, though, so it wasn't very scary. It was more cute than anything.

Unlike with the Rattata, however, I wasn't afraid. I clenched my fists, taking up a position behind Tyler, then ordered, "Growl!"

It was a pretty basic strategy, but it seemed to work rather well. Whether it was q psychological effect or a result of some unseen stat change, the Pidgey seemed to hesitate, then threw itself forward and hit Tyler with a Tackle with less than full strength; it was just a little Pidgey, so it wouldn't have done much anyway, so it did next to nothing now. After that, it was merely a matter of spamming Tackles until the spirited yet underpowered Flying-type decided it'd be a better idea to take off after all and took to the sky, screeching bird-pokemon curses behind it, leaving a trail of discarded feathers in its wake.

There would be hundreds of wild pokemon battles in the days to come, but regardless, the absolute feeling of victory was fresh and new to me, and I was overjoyed. I pumped a fist with a cheer, then grabbed up my Bulbasaur, doing a mini-victory dance with him swinging around in my arms like we hadn't a care in the world. Two pairs of delighted, victorious laughter echoed up and down the route as a warning to any other Pidgey that wanted to get their feathery butts kicked.

We hung out much longer than necessary on that route, sneaking up on unsuspecting Pidgey or totally annihilating the Rattata that foolishly threw themselves at us from their spots in the grass. Being a starter pokemon, Tyler was a notch above the other pokemon, which equaled to him being absolutely beast when it came to messing up wild pokemon. Growl, then Tackle once, Tackle twice, maybe three times if it was fast, and add another tally to the scoreboard for us. And do you want to know what the best part was? I watched him battle, and I could sit there and watch Tyler get _stronger._ He sprinted forward faster and more suddenly, slammed into pokemon harder, sent them flying back farther...it got to the point where we didn't even need to throw that Growl out there, because one hit was all it took to knock them flat on their asses. It was the most invigorating feeling I'd ever had. I'd never felt myself becoming so much more experienced and powerful in such unison with anyone before.

I don't know when it stopped being just cool and started being an addiction, but either way, I was hooked. If I wasn't sure I wanted to be a pokemon trainer before, I was now.

The afternoon appeared out of nowhere. I was just thinking to when the sun had gotten so high that I realized my only remaining Potion had just been spent on a panting, energized, and enthusiastic Bulbasaur that I could have _sworn_ looked an inch or two bigger than before. Tyler could kick any wild pokemon's ass around these parts, but battle after battle was enough to wear out anyone. Satisfied and feeling oddly fulfilled, I smiled, picked up my starter, gave him a nice petting, and rained praises down on him the rest of the way it was to Viridian. We still had an errand to run.

Viridian City was a fair bit larger than Pallet...which, of course, wasn't hard to do. Therefore, it didn't necessarily mean much when I said the city was bigger than my hometown. In actuality, Viridian was rather pathetic as far as an actual city went; the only major differences were more buildings, wider roads, and more stores. That, and it had a Pokemon Center and an actual PokeMart, which was, like, my ultimate dream location. I had grown sick and tired of dollar stores when I realized that the only alternative to those in Pallet were the 99 cent-stores, the difference between them ranging _one whole cent._ Whoopty-frikken-doo. So a PokeMart to me was like a direct gift from God.

But Tyler was still looking a bit worn out, and I hated to try and drag him off on a shopping spree when he was covered in bruises and claw marks. I had pity on the little guy and stopped at the Pokemon Center, carefully setting him on the counter. "Hi, I'd-"

"Welcome to the Pokemon Center!" the nurse blurted obnoxiously at me like I was deaf. "We restore your pokemon to full health! Would you like to heal your pokemon?"

I paused for a full second. "...uh, yeah. Sure," I finally replied. Apparently whatever medication she was on didn't react well with a full pot of coffee.

The drug-induced nurse seemed delighted and scurried off with Tyler without a word. I stood there awkwardly, just thinking whether or not I should take a seat when I suddenly received a slightly shell-shocked Bulbasaur back. "Thank you for waiting, we've restored your pokemon to full health! We hope to see you again!"

...sure. Whatever you say, nursie. Cuz really, that wasn't creepy at all; just a hospital worker hoping she got to see us again, in a hospital, and oh GOD we got out of there so fast. "Okay, note to self: do not EVER come back to the Viridian Pokemon Center."

Tyler nodded in agreement. "Bulba."

Fortunately, the PokeMart was nearby, ready to ease my nerves with a promise of an immanent shopping spree. The second we walked in, however, the clerk that had apparently been waiting for us basically chucked a brown package at us, barely uttered a "K thanx by" in our direction, then stuffed his face back in his magazine, feet on the counter. It didn't look like I'd be doing any shopping today. "...goddammit."

Oh well. With both the parcel and Tyler in tow, I led the way back out of the store and out of Viridian towards Route 1 and Pallet. Rather than jumping the ledges to our right, Tyler and I took the scenic route to see how much more wildlife we could chew through. We managed to take out two Pidgey and decimate a Rattata before we actually made it back.

We came around to Oak's lab, entering through the front, parcel in hand. "Here you go, one random delivery."

"Ah, excellent!" Oak declared, accepting the package. "I had a feeling I could rely on you. How's my old pokemon doing?"

"He's awesome," I replied, gesturing to the smug Bulbasaur at my feet. "You should have seen him: he _annihilated_ those pokemon. It was amazing! You said Grass-types were easier to raise, but you didn't tell me he was such a _beast!"_

Oak chuckled, watching a small blush of pride creep over his Bulbasaur's green face. "Well, he certainly seems to be growing more attached to you..." He seemed thoughtful for a moment before he looked up at me with a smile. "Well, you definitely seem to have what it takes, so I don't see a problem with asking-"

The door suddenly burst open, and none other than Arrogant Asshole himself waltzed in like he owned the place. He completely ignored me as he strolled up to Oak, who looked expectant. "Yo gramps, did that chick come back with the Pokedexes?"

"I'm right here, asshole," I growled. "And what's a Pokedex? Is that one of those pokemon computers-things?"

"Pokedex," Oak stated, pulling the box open that I'd given him; he retrieved a small pair of red mini-booklets from the wrapping within. "As in, 'pokemon index.' An index that, as you encounter pokemon, will become more and more filled with data the farther along you go. It's an excellent record for trainers to have as a reference."

"Hell yes!" Geki crowed, snatching one of the devices up in his hand. "You watch, gramps: I'm going to fill this whole thing up from top to bottom! Hehehe!"

My jaw practically hit the floor. "We have to catch _all of them?_ Dude! Do you have any idea how many pokemon there are?"

"Approximately 700," Oak replied. There was probably a _clang _from when my jaw slammed onto the floor. "But no, catching every single pokemon isn't a requirement, though it is a nice challenge some people take up. A more popular challenge is for them to earn each of the eight gym badges in the region and to challenge the Indigo League for a shot at championship. Some of the most powerful trainers and pokemon in the world partake in the Indigo League."

Now _that_ sounded more my style. "Indigo League, huh," I muttered, tapping my chin. "Sounds pretty interesting...might have to do that."

Tyler nodded with a "Bulba!" of agreement, already looking poised and ready to roll.

"That too!" Geki declared smugly with a smirk. "I'll catch all the pokemon _and_ beat the Indigo League before you!"

I let out a laugh. "Ha! In your dreams: Tyler here can kick any pokemon's ass, anytime, anywhere. Just ask your Charmander - which is a _Fire-type,_ I might add. And you lost to a _Grass-type._ That's just sad."

Geki scoffed, flicking his hair with a confident wave of the hand. "Beginner's luck," he dismissed. "I just got sloppy because you were a rookie. Next time, I won't go easy."

I was ready to deck that guy. Oak must have seen it, too, because he hurriedly separated us, gave us five empty pokeballs to start us, and provided me with my very own personalized Trainer's license with my own smiling face on the picture (how the hell'd he get my picture?). Geki departed about this time with his usually snide "Smell you later!", though not before he made some wise-crack about making sure his sister didn't give me a town map. "Don't even bother coming to my place after this!"

So naturally, the first thing I did: I went over to say hi to Daisy, who was probably the only living human being I'd even think about considering my friend. And after hearing what I was planning, she was _overjoyed_ to lend me a town map, being the good Samaritan that she is. "That's wonderful news!" she said happily, usually softspoken voice lined with excitement. "I'm so happy for you! Be sure to visit every so often, okay? I'd love to see what new friends you've made!"

Ah, Daisy. How such a sweet girl like her ended up being a sibling to a prick like Geki, I'll never know.

It was about dinner time by the time Tyler and I returned home, where my mother was waiting anxiously, our arrival timed perfectly with the completion of dinner, which was prepared especially for me and Tyler, whom she was absolutely swooning over. I practically had to yank him away from her; otherwise, I might not have a pokemon to battle with tomorrow!

Bellies full and bodies weary from a full day, I went to bed early that night with Tyler, who curled up on my chest under the covers, asleep almost instantly. I had a smile on my face the whole night until physical awareness slipped away from me, and images of hundreds of pokemon - nameless battles and innumerable victories - danced across the back of my eyelids.

It was a wonderful day that day, and I was looking forward to my first real day as a trainer. Little did I know the difficult times and harsh challenges that would follow...and if I did, would I have been so eager to meet them..?

* * *

><p>I couldn't wait for morning, even in my dreams. The second my alarm clock rang, I shot up, nearly sent Tyler flying, and fervently apologized for waking him so abruptly, though the nice breakfast probably made up for it. But hey, at least he was alert, right?<p>

"My my," my mother said from the table, my plate on the floor - still being licked clean by Tyler. She was still taking a few bites from her pancakes, watching me dart back and forth throughout different rooms in the house with an undoubtedly amused expression. I couldn't tell; I was moving too fast to notice. "I never saw you so active in the morning when you had school. Curious why that is..."

"School, shmool," I dismissed, still scrambling around...goddammit, I thought for sure I had everything I needed the day before! I couldn't believe this - I was freaking out. I was supposed to be gone by now! "This is different, and AARGH I can't find my phone! Where is it? Oh god, I could have sworn that I had it-"

My mother cleared her throat.

I stopped, turned to face her, saw what she was holding: "-at the table!"

My mom chuckled, then caught me in mid-glomp, giving me a good squeeze, since she knew I was ready to go. "I want to hear all about it," she told me. "Every day, seven days a week. I want to know how my babygirl's doing."

I heard Tyler snicker from somewhere on the floor, and I tried to shove my head further into my hat so it was swallowed up. "Mooooom, I'm not a kiiiiiid," I whined. "You promised you wouldn't call me thaaaaaat..."

"Get used to it, darlin': it's my job to embarrass you and remind you you'll aaaaaalways be a little girl to me." She winked, then laughed when I snatched up my phone and pokemon in one swift motion. "Have fun - and don't get eaten by Caterpie!"

Ha. The only eating that would be done would be by Tyler as he ate his way clear through the competition. It had been awesome the first time, and the sight of my own pokemon sending wild Pidgey and Rattata flying in single blows continued to amuse me and filled me with pride. After all, it had been _I _that had gotten him that strong!

Before we did anything else, though, as soon as Tyler and I made it to Viridian, we made a detour and turned left, going down the road until it turned back to dirt and grass, then turned back into cool, decorated brick in an organized walkway leading off to a structure in the distance that towered overhead.

"There it is," I said quietly, staring intently at the virtual fortress that was the Pokemon League. "The Indigo Plateau."

If ever there was a sight to warrant admiration and awe, it was the castle-like Pokemon League that everyone could see in the distance and that only a few had ever dared to set forth into. No one went in or out - all the champions and Elite Four lived inside. The stories and folklore that floated out from within the eight massive walls were as awe-inspiring as the larger-than-life images of the people themselves:

Lance, the legendary Dragon Knight, who had single-handedly quelled a stampede of raging Gyarados and saved thousands of lives. Agatha, the woman whose past went parallel with some of the most famous scientists in the world, but then turned to pure power and held her title even into her old age. The ominous, almost mute Bruno, the graceful Lorelei...and then the faceless, nameless trainer that was known only to the world as "Red." No one had heard or seen him since he went into the Plateau one day and tore through the Elite Four like they were nothing, then sealed his own spot in history from within its impregnable walls. No one had heard or seen him after that day, but rumors that he was still the current champion were as alive as the people who spoke them.

All idols, all larger than life, and all living legends. The most powerful people in the world. I had never dreamed that I'd even have a _remote _chance of meeting them.

Until today, that is. We couldn't take them now - hell, maybe not for a long, long time - but now it was possible. It was possible that I could speak with the ice goddess Lorelei...that I could get a word out of Bruno, that I could learn from Agatha's age-old wisdom, that I could bear witness to Lance's power, that I could shake hands with the mysterious figure known as Red...it was all a possibility now. And I was in awe.

I'd never realized how much of a dream all of this had been to me until I was standing there at the Plateau's gates, unable to enter but looking forward to the day that I could.

"That's where we'll be," I told Tyler quietly, jaw set in steely determination. "We'll be there one day. We'll go in there, we'll knock everyone up, and we'll beat every single one of them."

Tyler stopped staring in awe to look up at me, as if shocked that we'd ever be allowed to enter such a place. "Bulba?" _Really?_

I nodded without hesitation. "You bet your bulb we will. But we've got a long way to go until then." I looked down to my partner now, blood pumping to the beat of my enthusiasm. "So let's start training today and never stop until we're the best bunch of badasses in Kanto!"

Childish awe turned to fire as heat lit up in my Bulbasaur's eyes, crimson pupils set aflame with passion. "Bulba, saur!" _Yes! Let's do it!_

It was a long way from where we were, but we'd get there someday. Someday, we'd be strong. Someday, we'd be the best.

...if we made it, that is.

* * *

><p>We left the Plateau from there and shot straight over to the PokeMart, where I went on a shopping spree for a more practical repertoire of items than I'd usually go on a spending spree for: eight Potions and six pokeballs to add to my stock. I spent every penny I had on them, but it'd be worth it. The more supplies we had, the better.<p>

Turns out that I made my first major mistake around that time, but I wouldn't find out later what the consequences would be.

Now stocked up with not a dollar to our names, Tyler and I left the PokeMart and headed north, where a guy was ranting furious, unfriendly things at some Bug Pokemon in the grass for spilling his coffee. Tyler and I both wagered how long it'd be until the pokemon finally had it and either Poison Stung him or bound his legs together with String Shot. We snickered quietly together as we walked off, leaving Viridian behind as we walked up the short route that was Route 2.

Route 1 was idiot-proof, but Route 2 was just ridiculous. If you got lost there, you were pathetic. Go to the left to walk around one ledge, go to the right, go through some grass, and bam: big entrance to the forest. Impossible to miss or screw up on.

Unless you tripped, which I did, and I landed directly on top of something solid, feathery, and very pissed off. I got a few slaps in the face by thrashing wings a few times before I could righten myself and face the annoyed, murderous-looking Pidgey I'd discovered. Tyler leaped into place to take the heat for me. "Tyler, Tackle!"

That would have been enough to end the battle any other time, but surprisingly, he missed. The little bird dove aside at the last second, then twirled around with a flutter and crashed into Tyler while he was still digging his feet in to stop, sending the green dinosaur tumbling. He got back up more annoyed than hurt, though the Pidgey looked rather smug.

I ordered another Tackle, and what _really _surprised me: it did the very same thing again, then followed up with a swipe across the ground with its wing, sending a burst of sand into Tyler's face, which made him yelp and scratch at his eyes. He received a second Tackle head-on because he didn't see the attack coming.

I grunted in annoyance, digging my feet in. "It's right in front of you, Tyler: Tackle it fast!"

Still blind with watering eyes, Tyler leaped to his feet and charged with speed that was considerable even for him, slamming head-first into the Pidgey and carrying it right out of the tall grass and straight into a tree. The collision left both pokemon dazed and in a heap, leaves raining down on them from above. I thought for sure it might tip over from how hard they hit it.

Seeing as this fight was getting nowhere, I looked for an alternative, and I delightfully discovered the empty pokeballs in my pocket. I'd never caught a pokemon before, but it looked pretty straightforward on TV: enlarge, throw, pray. If they could do it, so could I. "Alright, here it goes!"

The pokeball went flying, bounced off the tree, and landed perfectly onto the Pidgey, sucking it up in a beam of light and leaving Tyler alone to wipe the sand out of his eyes. The sphere tilted and vibrated as its contents struggled, stilled, and let out a small, pleasant little chime to let it know that the pokemon had been caught.

"Yes!" I cheered, rushing up to grab Tyler and squeeze him in a hug. "We did it, buddy! Our first new teammate - my first caught pokemon! We did it!"

Tyler's eyes were still red and watering, but a little cleaning up fixed him up nicely so he could show his enthusiasm, too, namely in the form of a backflip. He failed epically because of the bulb on his back, but I laughed and pat his head anyway, even as he chuckled sheepishly. He was such a show-off.

"Now then...what to call you." I held out the pokeball containing my new Pidgey, mind spinning to come up with a name. I was still pretty excited, though, so it wasn't easy to think. "Uh...was it a boy or a girl?"

Tyler stared at me blankly, then held out both his paws in the general "I don't know" gesture.

I facepalmed. "Great." As it turned out, I actually had to release the pokemon and ask it myself. "Okay, uh, give me one chirp if you're a boy, and two if you're a girl."

The little plume of brown and white looked irritated, but chirped, "Pidge."

"Boy," I said to myself, nodding. "Okay. Let's see...how about..." I thought for a long moment, then finally offered, "Harper. How's that sound?"

The Pidgey glanced up as it thought about it, then shrugged with its wings, chirping what I guess equaled out to "it'll do." Tyler nodded enthusiastically, apparently approving as well.

"Awesome!" I said happily, extending a hand to my new feathery partner. "Harper the Pidgey, welcome to the team. Glad to have you aboard!"

The Pidgey eyed my hand for a minute, then extended one wing into it, which I took as a makeshift handshake. Despite his obvious unsureness about the whole idea, I could tell he was pleased by the way he looked up at me, and what little of his mouth wasn't attached to his beak curled upward, making it look like he had a smile.

It may have been just a Pidgey, but he was _my _Pidgey. In my eyes, that set him above all the rest. He was perfect.

Tyler, Harper, and Rein: our team was growing. It wouldn't be long before we were full of battle-hardened, iron-witted pokemon not even the strongest of trainers could beat. An intense Venusaur, a noble Pidgeot...the picture in my mind was getting more and more complete. An already awesome situation was looking even better.

I should have suspected something was about to happen by then, but I was too blinded with excitement to see it until it was too late.

We went into Viridian Forest as a trio: me leading the way, Tyler marching proud beside me, Harper perched neatly on my arm. We were a dream team, even though none of us had met all that long ago. It's amazing how fast people can bond with pokemon. They're so easy to bond with...I wonder what makes them like that. You know, what makes them so _awesome _and all.

As per its reputation (and my mother's playful warning before I left, referring to an incident when I was little), Viridian Forest was teeming with slithering, crawling, and snaking little insects, all cleverly hidden from plain sight up until you turned your head the wrong way or set foot into their territory, at which point half the hive came bursting out of cover to make you sorry you were there. Hell, I was sorry already, and I had barely arrived yet.

At a first glance, the place looked pretty daunting: a labyrinth of trees and grass with no end in sight. After a little observation, though, I could pick up a pattern to the way the forest was set up, and soon we were on the move again, trudging through trees and hiking through tall grass like it was nobody's business. You'd hardly be able to tell I was scared stiff to go forward not a full day before.

"I want to get some training in here before we head to Pewter, plus maybe catch a few pokemon while we're at it," I explained to my team, who listened mildly, eyes mostly on their surroundings. I rolled my wrist once to get Harper to adjust his talons, which he did, thankfully; dang things were sharp. "I hear there are Pikachu in these woods, and we could really use an Electric-type on our team; Electric-types are pretty rare. Oh, and we'll definitely get some good training in here for you, Harper: there are tons of Bug Catchers and Bug-pokemon in here, and you should be able to tear through them no problem. Heck, by the end of the day-"

I didn't get to finish. Namely because a particularly conniving little Bug-pokemon hooked its tail to a branch, swung down like a gymnastic, and landed _splat - _right in my face. "Weedle."

_"Gah!"_

I shrieked like a little girl, immediately bringing my arms up to get its furry self _off my face,_ only to have Harper's talons scrape the flesh of my arm as he struggled to either hang on or take off. Tyler, not expecting the sudden halt or my backing up, walked right into the back of my leg, and we all ended up in a big pile or flailing limbs and irritated cries, trying to untangle ourselves from the tall grass we'd unknowingly walked into. We must have been quite a sight to see; like something out of a slapstick comic. I could hear the little fucker on my face laughing its measly little head off.

Finally I managed to get up, shove Tyler off me, and yank the obnoxious little Wheedle off my face, disgusted by the moist feeling where its suction cup-like feet had stuck to my face. It continued to laugh its squeaky laugh...that is, until it realized its predicament: it was staring down a pissed off human as it dangled by its tail, followed up by a growling Bulbasaur and a particularly hungry-looking Pidgey, all of whom were larger than it and giving it their meanest combined death-glare. "Dle wee..."

"'Oh shit' is right," I informed it; what else was it going to say in a situation like that? I then pulled back my arm, chucked the annoying little bugger back into the grass, turned around in a huff to leave-

-and got a String Shot glob stuck to my foot, which ended up tripping me and landing me on Tyler..._again. _"Son of a bitch!" I shrieked vehemently. I stabbed a finger at the laughing patch of grass, then ordered, "Harper, fuck its shit up!"

Harper crowed an enthusiastic "Pidge-y!" (and I swear to _god _he licked his lips) before taking flight and doing a dive-bomb straight into the tangle of grass, leaving me to try and get the shit off my foot as I listened to the ensuring bug-like shriek of terror and sounds of commotion. I thought for sure it was dead.

Apparently not, however, as no sooner did Tyler and I untangle my foot from the String Shot did Harper come scrambling back out of the grass, thrashing his wings furiously as he took to the air again. As he did, the small form of a Weedle scuttled slowly forward in a classic self-defense stance: head to the ground, horn angled up, tail taut and pulled back like that of a scorpion, stinger throbbing as poison pumped into it. It looked like it was done fooling around.

Good, because so was I. That little bug was really pissing me off. "Alright, let's go, Harper! Tackle!"

Harper didn't look enthusiastic, but I could see him backing up in order to give the blow his all before he rushed in beak-first, dive-bombing the little thing like a suicide bomber.

Maybe not the best idea: the Weedle's tail snapped forward and stuck Harper perfectly between the eyes with an unpleasant _crack_ sound, not enough to stop him but enough to slow him down and dole out some hurt while it was at it. Harper veered off and let out a shrieking noise as he was jabbed in the side with the Weedle's larger, head-mounted horn. Both toxic barbs had a spot of red on the ends of them.

I swore under my breath. "Annoying as...Harper, do you know Gust?"

I saw the Pidgey shake his head.

Well, so much for our advantage. "Damn. Well, just hang in there: you're the bird, and you're on top of the food chain! Show it who's boss!"

Harper chirped, but I could tell by looking at him he wasn't looking forward to betting closer to those twin barbs again. I didn't blame him.

The battle was pretty much a stalemate; Harper couldn't go in and score any major hits, and the Weedle's strength was purely one of defense. Other than spit out a String Shot glob here and there, it did nothing but fend off Harper and fill its supposed predator full of little holes from repeated jabs with its stingers. For a worm up against a bird, it was doing pretty well at holding its own.

Eventually Harper was ready to throw in the towel, and I didn't see any point in continuing this pointless fight. Rather than run away, though, I relieved Harper of his combat stance, patting his head. "You did really good, Harper. Good work."

Harper chirped once, then resumed panting, wings draped out at his sides. His feathers were rustled, he had blood coming through where he got a good jab...he looked miserable.

The Weedle was faring better, but not by much: it had several bruises and cuts from Harper's Tackles and talons, and it, too, was panting rather hard. Crafty or not, it was still a little guy, and it had its limits - the extent of which seemed to be growing closer every minute.

The Weedle pointed its tail at me as I stepped forward; Tyler instinctively took up a spot between us, but I waved them down. "Truce."

Tyler hesitated, then relaxed after a moment, sitting patiently on his haunches for another order. The Weedle looked suspicious but had relaxed slightly as well, tail angling down away from my head. I had its attention.

I lowered down to my knees, thoughtfully examining the little creature. "You know what, I'm impressed. I don't know a whole lot about Bug pokemon, but I figure not a whole lot of them can fend off a Bird pokemon bigger than them." I gestured to Harper, who had started preening blood off his feathers. "We could really use a fighter like you on our team. Would you like to join?"

The little Weedle tilted its head inquisitively as it considered the offer. It looked between a battered and preening Harper, a determined-looking Tyler, and a smiling me with its beady black eyes, then slowly, unsurely at first but more and more confident, nodded.

I grinned, then retrieved a pokeball from my pocket and tapped the Weedle lightly on the nose with it, who was sucked up in a beam of red light. It rattled once, but it fell still quickly and let out a small _click_ as the central button stopped glowing. I released him shortly after to address our new team member. "Welcome to the team, little guy. How's Keith sound?"

Keith the Weedle nodded eagerly, and his fate was sealed: he was one of us now.

The picture in my head expanded to show a fearsome, vigorous Beedrill hovering beside us...three out of six. Things were really looking up.

I applied a Potion to both Keith and Harper, who I decided was going to learn Gust today, and turned us back the was we'd been headed, this time with a Bulbasaur beside me, a Pidgey perched on my arm, and a Weedle clinging to my shoulder. I felt invincible.

Naturally, things started going downhill. Bug pokemon, I'd found out, were incredibly zealous fighters, and a pokemon like Keith fending off a larger predator like Harper wasn't an unusual scenario. A kid we passed by told us it was Beedrill mating season, and all the members of its evolutionary line were naturally agitated and looking for a fight. Therefore, it wasn't a surprise that all we came across were hordes and hordes of _Weedle._ It was a good thing I caught Keith when I did, because after seeing all the Bug pokemon that would come out, there was no way I would have wanted to catch one. There just seemed to be no end of them!

I tried my best to get some training in for Harper, but he was getting tired, and no amount of Potions seemed to regenerate his stamina like it did the others. The first Bug Catcher we fought was only after we'd clawed our way through the jungle of grass and stingers and _fucking Weedle,_ and poor Harper wasn't faring well. I made him take a breather, even as the Bug Catcher threw out a pokeball that opened and contained a Caterpie: a godsend in response to the hundreds of Weedle we'd encountered.

I sent out Keith, who was looking anxious for a fight himself, no doubt because of watching Tyler decimate other members of his kind. He wanted to prove himself. "Alright, Keith: Poison Sting!"

My Weedle started to scuttle forward, body working like a snake's as he rushed in horn-first towards his opponent. Keith wasn't fast, but then again neither was the Caterpie, and Keith didn't have any problem scuttling in and stabbing the green insect in the side with his horn, then again with his stinger for good measure. The stinger looked like it hurt more.

In a panic, the Bug Catcher ordered String Shot to slow Keith down, who was slow anyway, so that'd mean it might stop him completely, right? Wrong: String Shot _reduced _speed, not _eliminated_ it. So all he really did was give Keith a white, silky scarf, and annoy him. "Poison Sting again - keep Poison Stinging!"

I could bore you with the details, but I'll just leave it at the fact that the kid was a wuss, and so was his Caterpie. To compensate, he threw out a second pokemon: Metapod. Which was even _more _useless than its pre-evolved form. All it could do was Harden and _stare _at you. How pathetic was that?

I laughed, then called back Keith, gesturing to Tyler. "Okay Tyler, use Leech Seed and just-"

To my surprise, Harper rushed forward, cooing a "Pidge!" despite the way he panted.

Frowning, I shook my head. "No, Harper, you're not well. You need to rest, and then you can-"

Harper shook his head adamantly, chirping sharply with a fervent flap of his wings. No no, apparently sitting back and waiting wasn't on his "to do" list so far. He came in here looking forward to own some bugs, and by god, he was going to own some bugs.

I couldn't help but admire that kind of determination, and I gave in. "...alright. But just be careful...well, not like you need to. It's just a Metapod. Go get 'im, tiger!"

Harper crowed once, then took to the air, already backing up to begin dive-bombing the enemy - hey, he knew the drill. And it's not like the enemy could attack him anyway.

Actually, it didn't really have to: Metapod had high Defense anyway, and Harden only increased its Defense further, and it kept on Hardening and Hardening until I swear to god the damn thing was bullet proof. Harper gave it his all, but the damn thing was just too Hardened for us to beat it. It was like a tank without a gun: totally useless, but unbeatable at the same time. And it was annoying as _hell._

Harper kept trying and trying, though, and it wasn't until his head was bloody from where he'd been slamming into this thing and he didn't have the strength to keep flying that I relieved him, waving forward to Tyler. "Okay, fuck this. Leech Seed that thing, would you kindly?"

And suddenly, the waiting game was turned against the Metapod: it kept trying to fortify its defenses, but with its stamina steadily being drained, there was nothing it could do and nothing for us to do but wait for the inevitable. After it flopped onto its side and its trainer let out a groan, I cheered: "Haha! My second-ever trainer battle! Good work, team!"

Tyler cheered with me; Keith snickered happily. Harper remained where he was, wings dropped and panting hard.

I saw this and frowned, coming up to my Pidgey with increasing concern. "...Harper, are you okay? You don't look so good..." I reached out to him, but stopped when he started to cough. "...Harper?"

Harper didn't reply - he couldn't. His chest heaved once, then twice, and then he vomited all over the grass. All that leaked out of his beak was blood.

_Oh shit._

I didn't even stop to accept my prize money from the annoying Bug Catcher: I returned Keith and Tyler, snatched up Harper, and took off like my life depended on it out of that forest. More Weedle jumped out to challenge me, but I left their hormone-ridden asses behind. I had more important things to tend to than help them impress the ladies.

I practically bowled over the people standing by the entrance to the forest, dashing past them and vaulting over the ledges that made up Route 2. Everything passed by in a blur, and I didn't stop - I couldn't. My heart was going, my blood was hammering against the insides of my ears, and I was scared. Harper wasn't responding now - he was either passed out, or...or...

_No, _I snapped silently. _Don't think about that. That's not going to happen - not to him. Not to the first pokemon you ever caught. Not your friend..!_

"Fuck," I cursed under my breath, ignoring the traffic lights of Viridian and nearly getting flattened by a car as it blasted its horn at me. Everyone that saw me tried to get out of my way, or I made them move myself. "Fuck, fuck, fuck..."

I probably would have smashed the Pokemon Center's door down if someone hadn't been standing there, just before they jumped aside to make room for the girl with the unconscious Pidgey oozing blood onto her shirt. I got up to the counter, didn't even care who was there - this was more important than some checkup - and blurted, "Help! My Pidgey-"

"On it," the Nurse finished; I couldn't tell if she was the psychedelic one from before or not, but I didn't care. I handed Harper carefully off to her, then watched with increasing anxiety as a second Nurse and a Chansey emerged from the back and rushed him away on a stretcher. The nurse that remained then had to calm me down - which was harder than it sounded, considering I was nearing a nervous breakdown from frantic worry - and guided me to a seat in the waiting room.

Thus began the most painful period of waiting I'd ever done in my entire life.

I called out Tyler from his pokeball, then scooped him up like a falcon would its prey (oh god, bad metaphor) and squeezed him tight, tears leaking out of my eyes. "Never again," I whimpered, holding him close. "Never again."

I don't know if he knew what I meant then - hell, even I didn't - but he didn't say anything but let me hug him and squeeze him like a security blanket. He was stronger than I could ever hope to be.

I don't know how long we sat there, just waiting for our friend's fate. Keith came out a little after Tyler, and he coiled up on my lap with an anxious expression, staring off into space. I didn't even mind his moist little feet on my bare legs; I was far too worried to mind that.

Poison, I remember deciding: it had to be poison. He got poisoned, and it widdled away at his insides until he was vomiting blood...which would make _me_ the guilty one. I was a trainer: I should have recognized the signs. I should have been prepared. Should have been better equipped...I'd blown all my money off on Potions and Pokeballs, and I didn't bother with the Antidotes when we went into a forest full of toxic bugs...dammit, even if I had seen the signs, I might not have even been able to help him anyway. I was so _stupid._

_Please be okay,_ I prayed, holding Tyler and Keith close. _Please be okay. Please be okay...please..._

* * *

><p>My cellphone's cool speaker pressed against my ear - ironically cool, since it'd been in my pocket the whole time, and I felt so hot. My eyes were red and puffy as I listened to the ringtone. Tyler was quiet and still, offering support with his presence.<p>

The call was answered relatively quickly, and my mother's cheerfulvoice rang pleasantly, "Hello~?"

"Hi, mom," I croaked, throat sore and dry; it felt like I hadn't spoken in ages. "I made it to Viridian..."

All traces of enthusiasm vaporized from my mother's voice when she heard me. "...Rein? Oh my god, Rein, what happened? Are you okay?"

I sniffled once, smiling weakly to myself; it was kind of nice to hear her so worried about me. "I'm okay, mom," I told her, hugging Tyler a little. "I've got my pokemon with me. I'll be okay."

No doubt she was relieved to hear I was okay, but she was definitely still worried. "What happened, baby?"

So I told her everything: about my trek from home up to the tumble I had with the first pokemon I ever caught, then to the obstacle that was Viridian Forest. "We were doing really good," I told her, wiping my eyes; I pat Keith's head as my hand was by my shoulder. "We beat a trainer in there, and we were going to go on, but...Harper got poisoned." I took a shaky breath, then blurted, "I blew all my money on Potions...I couldn't help him. He didn't make it."

My mother was silent for several seconds - perfect time to find somewhere to sit. "...I'm sorry, Rein," she said quietly at last. "I'm so sorry."

I shook my head sadly. "There's nothing you could have done, either," I said. "Your cooking's good, but I don't think you could have cured poisoning with some hot soup and breakfast in bed."

"Well, you never know!" my mom teased. "I thought for sure you were going to die yourself, when you were young. That secret chicken noodle soup recipe never let me down yet!"

I managed to laugh at that. "Yeah...you moms have a way with these things, huh?"

"Of course!" my mom replied with a giggle. When she stopped, though, her voice was more gentle. "Are you going to be okay, honey? Do you want me to come get you..?"

I shook my head, momentarily forgetting she couldn't see me. "I promised we would be the best," I said, looking down to Tyler, who smiled sadly up at me. "We aren't the best yet...we've still got a long way to go. And hey, at...at least we're together, right? We've still got each other..."

Tyler chuckled, pressing his head into my chest. Keith let out a small cooing noise and nuzzled my cheek, tickling me slightly with his little furs and bristles. His clammy wet feet felt comforting, somehow.

My mother sighed. "...alright, baby. You promise you'll be alright?"

I smiled a little and nodded. "I promise." I looked to my pokemon. "...for all of us."

The conversation ended shortly thereafter. The sun was starting to go down outside, and amber light filtered across Kanto. I sat down with Tyler and Keith in my lap, patting each of them. The ashen gray pokeball on my belt - as lifeless as its contents - weighed heavily down on my hip.

Pokemon journeys weren't all fun and games; I was just discovering that now. Everyone wanted to get stronger, and the world was just as rough as it always was. There was going to be hardship - pain that came with our gain. If we were going to be strong, we were going to have to earn it...and survive. Survival of the fittest; the weak died, and the strong went on. Didn't just want to get strong: we _needed_ to get stronger. If we were going to make it in this world, becoming strong was a must. The desire was only optional.

Maybe I hadn't known what I was getting into when I left home that day. But I did, and here we were. Now all we had to do was stay strong...if nothing else, because our lives depended on it.


	3. Chapter 3

_(The adventure continues! Will the hardship as well? :O Stay tuned to find out! ;) )_

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><p><strong><em>Chapter 3: Paths Clad In Pewter<em>**

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><p>The night at the Viridian Pokemon Center was dreadful. I don't care how comfy those couches are: human bodies are not meant to sleep that way. I had to do some <em>serious <em>stretching to get that kink out of my back. Oi!

I'll admit, I was scared to go back to Viridian Forest...and no, not because of the Weedle; I had one of my own, and I wasn't afraid. Not of that. But of the fact that the last time I'd entered that forest, only two of my three pokemon had come out, and...it was frightening. Harper had relied on me, and one stupid mistake on my part had assisted in his death. I barely knew him, but the fact that he had died even a little bit because of me was like a sharp rock in my foot: it hurt, and it didn't go away with a little self-assurance. It really made me stop and rethink things. I think having that kind of experience was a big eye-opener for me...and I realized that the pokemon world didn't look quite as child-friendly as I had originally thought. How stupid had I been to actually think something like that wouldn't happen?

That was it, though: it _would _happen. Things like that were going to happen, and there wasn't going to be much I could do to change that, besides be more careful. Heck, I'm not the most coordinated girl...I never was. Therefore, things like that happening were inevitable, really. There was no avoiding it. It was just something I had to accept, or it'd ruin me.

Besides...I made a promise. First to Tyler, and now to everyone: we were going to become the best. We weren't the best yet, and until we were, we couldn't stop. Tyler was my faithful starter, and Keith was a Bug-pokemon: zealous and relentless. Neither of them would stop, and neither would I. We'd force our way through the world and make sure that nothing like this ever happened again, even if we had to take on every single Weedle in Kanto.

It was heartbreaking, but Harper's death did something besides hurt me...it inspired me. To become the best of the best: so strong and powerful that nothing like that would ever happen, because we'd be too strong. We were moving on...and we'd do it for Harper. For the Harpers that would come after...because god only knew that wouldn't be the first team member I'd lose.

The gate to Viridian Forest seemed more foreboding than it had the day before. I could already hear the squeals of the Weedle beyond as they worked themselves into a tizzy, ready to attack and ward off anything that walked past their territory. I could feel Keith's tail barb begin to throb with toxins; the very echoes of his kind issuing a challenge was enough to prompt him to prepare for battle. Tyler, ever the cool and collected one, stood confidently at my side, totally unmoved. His poker face was flawless.

I gritted my teeth, then nodded. "Alright, guys. Let's get this over with."

All three of us passed through the gate and entered the forest, ready to take on anything and everything that stood in our path.

As it turned out, there was quite a bit in our path: Weedle. Dozens and dozens of Weedle...Caterpie, too; their toxic cousins had gotten so worked up that they had even started to agitate the more harmless variation of the two Bug-types, and the once placid green caterpillars could be seen patrolling certain parts of the paths trainers had walked into the ground, ready to attack anything - Weedle or otherwise - that came at them. We apparently fit the bill.

Luckily, we were more than capable of taking out a few pissy Caterpie. Tyler sent the little bugs flying, knocking their battered forms into the grass like bowling balls aimed at a set of pins. Naturally agitated as it was, Keith was quick to join into the fray, though he was better support than he was frontal assault. Even so, the fire-blooded Weedle was more than happy to throw his hairy little self at whatever I so desired...or anything that moved, really. He had a slow start as far as leveling went, but it wasn't long before I could start to compare him and Tyler together, though Tyler had most of the points. I'd decided to start keeping track of the ones we took out, since there were so many of them and we needed something to help motivate us. Keith was two or three behind and a bit worn out, and Tyler had barely broken a sweat. He was still very much the powerhouse of the team.

And then we started to find the Bug Catchers. The first one that stopped me recognized me from the day before, and he was a bit freaked out still; I challenged him, but he heartily declined, then pretended to spot an "awesome bug!" and took off into the grass with his net. And bag. And everything else. It pleased me.

The next Bug Catcher wasn't as experienced in our ways, and I decided to enlighten him. After all, if we were going to dominate this forest, we needed a few witnesses. Who better to start with than a few easily wow'd poke-noobs...

The kid's first choice: a Weedle. Surprise surprise...after all, it's not like every other Bug Catcher in this entire goddamn forest had one too, right?

The kid gloated a bit, and I rolled my eyes at his talk. "Tyler, kick its ass."

And he did: two or three Tackles later, and the Bug Catcher had to go chasing after his Weedle after it was sent flying back into the tall grass. The victorious Bulbasaur merely wiped the String Shot off his face and chuckled.

The next pokemon was a Caterpie - rather fat for its kind, but we could work with that. It's not like it could do anything but Tackle and String Shot anyway. "Okay, Keith. Show 'em what you've got."

"Weedle wee!" The brown worm pokemon strutted (or what equaled to it for a Weedle) forward, snapping immediately into a combat-ready position: tail raised, head lowered, back taut and ready to spring. Not really ferocious, but not something I'd want to reach my hand out at.

"Caterpie, Tackle!"

"Poison Sting!"

The two moves met, and both Bug pokemon collided head-on, glaring venomously at each other like they'd been rivals their whole lives. The once peaceful, passive pokemon were warriors in a heated battle of the fates, and neither would give in. It was an inspirational sight.

...although there was nothing too inspirational about the way the kid started bawling after Keith beat the crap out of his chubby Caterpie. Kind of pathetic, really.

He was just a kid, and a noob on top of that, so he didn't have a whole lot along the lines of payment. That was alright; I figured we got our money's worth out of that, anyway. I was turning to leave the sniveling collector behind when I stopped, then turned around. I thought I saw a flash of something.

Turns out, I did: rather than a Weedle, a sleek, slender Kakuna stood perfectly balanced where Keith had been standing, unblinking charcoal eyes darting all over as it looked at the world through new eyes a few inches taller than where they'd been before. "...na?"

I blinked for a moment, then let out a laugh, scooping up the glossy yellow pokemon, giving him a squeeze; as I suspected, his hide yielded no more than a block of iron would. "Oh man, Keith," I said, running my hand admiringly over his stainless cocoon armor. He was just a pupa, but he still looked awesome. It was probably the closest I'd ever get to a living, breathing Kakuna without having to high-tail it out of there due to a swarm of raging, hormone-drunk Beedrill. The very thought of those vicious Poison-types possibly standing at my side sent a chill up my spine. "You're going to be so badass when you evolve, you know that?"

"Ka."

I chuckled. "Okay, I'm definitely going to evolve you again today. Count on it!"

While he couldn't move a muscle, I could feel the Kakuna in my arms smile.

The trek through Viridian Forest after that was pretty much the same thing in repeat, except without anyone evolving on me. Tyler sprouted his vines and sported them off by sticking Weedles into tree trunks by the horns on their heads, but apart from that, nothing much happened. It was uneventful, tedious, and _grueling_, and all increasingly so with every Caterpie and Weedle that leaped out of the grass. Not to say it was boring...it just got really old, really, really fast. Between these dumb bugs and the catchers chasing after them with nets, I was really sick of hanging out in Viridian Forest. GTFO much?

We never had much on the way of supplies to begin with, but with all the wild pokemon and Bug Catchers running around, we were running out fast. Occasionally I'd find something laying on the ground - I happily added the spare Antidote to my bag, though both my pokemon were Poison-types and therefore impossible to poison - but for the most part, we were on our own, and I was running out of Potions fast. I was down to two left before I knew it, and I didn't have a choice but to leave some of Keith's cuts unattended as we trudged our way through; he couldn't move a whole lot, so evading was a problem, but he could fire small pins of Poison Sting where his mouth would be, so he could at least defend himself. He wasn't anywhere near as incompetent as the other Kakuna lying around or being showed off by Bug Catchers, though Tyler did have to do a bit of supporting to help him get some training in himself. The sooner he evolved, the sooner we'd have a badass Beedrill on our team.

Finally, the end was in sight: Tyler and Keith were exhausted, and I was damn tired of walking and running and getting hit by stray String Shots and DAMN tired of marching around in this goddamn forest for hours, and I didn't even slow down to address the Caterpie Tyler Tackled out of existence; I had Keith in my arms, my gaze set, and we were getting the hell out of there. I could see the gate's arch just ahead-

"Hey, hey! What's the hurry?"

"Screw you, kid," I snapped, trudging by with a Kakuna in my arms and an irritated, tired Bulbasaur right on my heels. "I'm sick of this forest."

Apparently the kid couldn't take a hint, because he jumped in front of me, whipping out a pair of pokeballs. "Battle me and I'll let you pass!"

I gave the brat with the straw hat a glare hot enough to burn a hole through him, and I probably came the closest I ever had to punching a ten year-old. Eventually, though, I just stepped aside to let Tyler do the heavy lifting. "Whatever. Waste him, Tyler."

"Bulba!"

The kid laughed. "No way you'll beat me, because _my _pokemon _evolved! _Go, Buggles!"

I stood there, completely unmoved as a Metapod came out of its pokeball, staring lamely at us. "Leech Seed."

Tyler bent forward to point his bulb at the cocoon pokemon, then shot out a flurry of small seeds across its green hide. The seeds sprouted the instant they made contact, and their little roots snaked their way through the Metapod's armor like it was nothing more than soil.

"Harden!"

The pokemon did nothing but sit there and look harder than before.

Both pokemon remained still, one unable to move, the other waiting patiently. The Bug Catcher looked expectant, but I didn't order Tyler further; instead, I sat down in the grass and started to massage my feet through my shoes...oh god, were they ever sore. Hiking through a bug-infested forest wasn't a task I particularly enjoyed, but while we were stuck in here, I might as well take a load off.

The Bug Catcher ordered for his pokemon to Harden again, attempting to prompt me into combat. Instead I just sat there, massaging the ache out of my feet, balancing a Kakuna between my knees. Tyler sat down boredly, enjoying the sensation of the added health he was slowly gaining, but otherwise very bored indeed. These pokemon weren't a challenge at all - especially not to him.

Eventually, the Metapod flopped over, and I sighed. "There. Can we go now?"

The Bug Catcher shook his head, retrieving his fallen pokemon. "No way, I've still got one pokemon left! Go, Buggles 2!"

Before my eyes, _another _Metapod materialized out of the flash of light, just as lame as the one before, and I snapped, "Goddammit, can we just end this? The same thing's going to happen: I'm going to use Leech Seed, and we'll just sit here and wait. Can we just get this over with now?"

"No way! Buggles 2 will win for sure!"

I groaned and slapped my face in my palm of my hand. "Oh my god...Tyler, please..?"

Tyler sighed, then shot out another round of Leech Seed - probably spending the last PP he had, as he looked rather sore as he did it. Good thing this was our last opponent.

After another minute or two of waiting, the Metapod fell over, and I sighed. _"Now _can we go?"

The Bug Catcher returned his pokemon, muttering "Whatever" as he turned to walk away.

A vine at his arm stopped him, and I held out my hand expectantly. "Uh-uh, you made me sit through that, and you lost, so pay up, buster."

The kid looked ready to throw a tantrum as he practically chucked his money at me, then took off into the forest, blaring "You'll be sorry!" behind him.

Yeah, right. Sure. Like he could totally do anything to stop us, right? Besides, we weren't even sticking around for him to exact his revenge anyway. "Tch...probably gonna get eaten by some Caterpie or something."

Keith snickered in my arms; Tyler just rolled his eyes and followed me out of Viridian Forest.

For the first time in what felt like ages, we set foot into some actual society: Pewter City was just a short walk up what remained of Route 2, and boy did it ever look awesome. Honking cars, crowded streets, obnoxious trainers...I didn't even care about the activity. I was just glad to be out of that fucking forest.

We went right to the pokemon center, where I handed over a weary Bulbasaur and Kakuna to a considerably less neurotic Nurse Joy at the counter. I sighed in relief, as I plopped down into a chair, then stood up again, only to drag it over to the PC and activate it to log into my account. If anyone else wanted to use it, too damn bad; I was beyond caring at this point.

I logged into my account, one ear listening for my name to be called, eyes set on the screen as I rolled the cursor across it, selecting my bank settings. I looked into my pocket, doing a brief count of the dollar bills and coins therein, and frowned. I used up my whole selection of pocket money after the spending spree in Viridian (which had barely lasted me anyway), and I knew that two Potions just wasn't going to cut it. That said, Bug Catchers barely had a penny to their name anyway, and they were really stingy when it came to payment, the little brats. So after all that work, I didn't even have enough to break halfway even from when I originally left home.

I sighed, inputting about half the money I had into the computer anyway to go back home to mom; I still had a promise to keep about that. I said I'd send back earnings, so I sent some back. After the transaction was complete, I had just over 500 pokebucks left - not even enough for two Potions. But at least my mom had some extra cash now. Every little bit counted.

After logging out of the computer, I stood up to look and see if my pokemon were ready just as the Nurse called my name. I then collected them, left the Pokemon Center, and proceeded to undergo one of the most depressing shopping expenditures of my life. When I came out, I had one more Potion, two Antidotes, and not a dime on my person after the fact. It was just sad, really.

I decided to do a little bit of exploring, since we were here, and led my team around a bit to see the sights and take note of what Pewter had to offer. There wasn't much: a park there, lots of streets and businesses...basically an actual city-version of Viridian. Y'know, traffic and all that. Not just a glorified town: a real city. Kind of nice to see, but boring. Apart from a museum, we didn't really see anything that caught our interest, and I didn't have enough money for a ticket. Even the measly price of 50 pokebucks was too much for someone who was totally broke.

Finally I sighed, addressing my team. "Okay, you know what, there's nothing here we can do for free, so let's just go to the gym. It's a Rock-type gym, so Tyler can level the guys in there, we can get our first badge, and then we'll have some money to celebrate. Sound good?"

Tyler shrugged and agreed. Keith couldn't move, but he let out a droning noise that I guessed was displeasure. I had a hunch of what it was for, too.

"No, Keith, it's a Rock-type gym. You know, Rock? Rocks squish bugs?"

Keith stared hard up at me, unrelenting.

I sighed. "Look, I promise I'll do some training afterward and get you to evolve, okay? That's the best I can do. I don't want a repeat of what happened with Harper."

The recent death was still fresh in our minds, and Tyler shuddered; even I felt a little bad for mentioning it. Keith's gaze flicked downward, and he let out a noise that sounded a bit like a huffing sigh. "Kaaa."

"It'll be alright, Tyler'll own 'em anyway. Then you get to move again and get some wings while you're at it. Alright?"

Keith sighed again, then rolled his eyes. It took me a second to realize he was indicating down the sidewalk and that we start moving and get this over with.

I pat his glossy head, then returned him, starting the way down where I remembered seeing the gym. "Alright, Tyler, let's do this. You ready?"

As expected, Tyler nodded, grinning eagerly. Oh yes, he was most definitely ready. He kicked everything's ass: especially Rock-type things. This gym badge was in the bag.

...well, after we got done being lost. Turns out that gym I saw? Yeah...wrong kind of gym. I didn't know for sure, but I doubted that the gym we were looking for was full of sweaty guys hefting weights around like they were made of Styrofoam. "...dammit."

So we walked around, hopelessly lost yet too prideful to stop and ask for directions. Only when I approached the edge of the town did a kid stop me and, after noticing I didn't have the Pewter gym's badge, guided me back to the gym. I cursed myself for looking stupid as I thanked him, then hurried inside, where the cool air and dimmed lights would hide my blushing face.

We passed by a nerd that preached after us about how he could "guarantee our success!", and after ignoring him and stepping onto the cool slates of the gym, a kid in a camper uniform leaped out from behind a rock with a pokeball in his hand. "Hold it! You're ten-million lightyears away from facing Brock!"

I chuckled, gesturing for Tyler to come forward. "Alright, we'll just move really fast, then."

The kid stared at me blankly before shaking his head, then brought out a round, craggling Geodude. Tyler's gaze met his, and the latter pokemon paled. It knew it was in trouble.

Its trainer didn't seem to mind, though. "Geo, Tackle!"

"Vine Whip, Tyler!"

The Geodude lifted itself up with its arms and clumsily ran forward, charging straight at Tyler, who remained calm and collected where he was. A pair of vines sprouted out of his back and putted the Geodude out of the way like a golf ball. The unfortunate Rock-type smashed into the wall, stuck there, and didn't move, though it twitched occasionally.

I laughed at the sight; the kid just scowled and returned his pokemon, bringing out his second one: a stocky Sandshrew. "Sandshrew, use-"

"Vine Whip!"

The unfortunate mouse pokemon barely had time to roll into a protective ball before it, too, was sent flying, this time looking a bit like a pinball as it bounced off one rock, ricocheted off another, spiraled into the air, and slammed into the ground. It looked ready to get back up, though another Vine Whip was a sufficient reminder of why this was a bad idea.

I laughed again and pat Tyler's head, walking casually past the Camper and pocketing what little cast he shoved out at me. "Man, that was the shortest ten million lightyears I've ever traveled, eh Tyler?"

"Sh-shut up..."

Snickering to ourselves, Tyler and I marched across the gym and up the stairs to the pedestal a man sat atop; his eyes seemed permanently closed, but he responded to our arrival regardless: "Welcome, trainer. I see you made quick work of my gym trainer..."

I nodded happily, gesturing to Tyler, who was stretching his legs with a coy expression. "Yeah, well, Tyler's a bit of a badass, and he's a Grass-type, so..."

Brock nodded, expression neutral. "Yes, so I see. But you have to realize type advantages aren't the entire battle; I'm still the strongest trainer in Pewter. Super-effective moves will only get you so far against a powerful foe..."

I waved him off; he didn't seem to be able to see anyway, so I figured it didn't really matter. "Of course, of course. Can we get on with this, though?"

Brock stood up and smiled, looking confident in the face of what I felt was certain defeat on his part. "As you wish, trainer. My first pokemon is Geodude!"

Another bulbous, rocky figure plopped down on the rough ground, though it met Tyler's confident gaze and matched it, cracking its knuckles. "Duuuuuuude..."

Inwardly I scoffed; we wasted that one Geodude, so we could take out this one just as fast, right? "Tyler, Vine Whip!"

Right on cue, a pair of vines whipped out of Tyler's back and shot over, wrapping tight around each of the Geodude's shoulders and hefting the pokemon into the air like it weighed nothing.

Then, a surprising move: the Geodude grabbed each of Tyler's vines with its oversized hands and gave them a hard yank. It must have been quite powerful, because Tyler was sent flying, crashing into the rock-hard pokemon's hide as it came slamming back onto the ground, which hurt him and not it, and then chucked him back towards me like a basebal: a perfect "return to sender"

My Bulbasaur rolled to a stop and shook his head to rid him of the disorientation. "Bulba..."

I could hear Brock laugh from across the field. "You thought you could use conventional methods against me? I'm not your average trainer, challenger!"

I grunted, mind reeling for an alternate solution. Dammit, regular Vine Whipping wasn't going to work...I should have known he'd have seen a few people carting Grass-types to this kind of gym before. Time to get creative. "Tyler, how many vines can you attack with?"

Tyler shook his head again, knocking off some dirt, and raised two claws at me to indicate. He only had two.

Alright, that would work. "Okay, do the same thing, but just use one vine: I've got an idea!"

Nodding, Tyler turned back to the Geodude and launched a single vine, which snapped around the pokemon's middle. Just as before, the Geodude grabbed the vine with both hands and, with a single yank, sent Tyler flying through the air with a cry, headed directly for it with a reverse-Tackle in mind.

Before he hit, though, I quickly called, "Now: use the other!"

The Geodude barely had time to figure out what had happened before Tyler impacted it...this time vine-first, cracking the pokemon dead between the eyes with a perfectly timed Vine Whip in its face. The Grass-type move was still doubly effective against the Rock and Ground-type, and the momentum with which it was hit alone would have been enough to move it; as it was, the pokemon was sent rolling back towards its trainer, landing perfectly at Brock's feet. "Duuuuude...geee..."

Brock chuckled with a shake of his head, returning his spent pokemon. "Not bad, trainer," he said, grabbing a second ball off his belt. "Now let's see if that tactic works against something a little larger...go, Onyx!"

My heart dropped as a wall of living, breathing rock materialized in front of me and reared up to bellow a roar. Its nose scraped against the ceiling and send chips of rock and pebbles pattering down on us.

_Oh shit._

Tyler looked rather freaked, staring up at this monster of a pokemon, and I didn't blame him: even a glancing blow could crush him flat. "...okay, _not_ fair."

Brock just laughed. "Onyx, Tackle!"

The gargantuan rock-snake lurched forward and merely fell towards Tyler, who stared up in sheer terror as half a ton of rock came flying down at him. "Tyler, move! _Tyler!"_

The pitch of my scream must have been enough to bring him to his senses, because Tyler leaped to the side just in time to avoid being crushed flat..though the force of the impact not an inch away from him was still enough to send him flying to the side.

The cloud of dust that followed tickled my nose and triggered a few coughs, which I resisted. My pokemon needed me. "Tyler, where are you? Are you okay? Tyler!"

I could barely hear him as the Onyx rose up to examine the rut in the ground it'd left behind, but I could hear it: "B-bulba!"

I didn't need to understand his language to know he was crying for help. "God, this is bullshit! How the hell are we supposed to beat _that?"_

"Not my problem!"

Son of a bitch. "Great...hang on, Tyler! Just...hide in the dust while I figure out what to do!"

Maybe calling out my plan wasn't the greatest idea in the world, because the Onxy caught on: it raised up its massive tail, then smashed it into one of the two dust clouds its crash had summoned up...though it hit the wrong one. And now there was even _more _dust in the arena to work to my advantage.

I scoffed as Brock told his Onyx just to wait; dammit, I needed a plan. _C'mon, c'mon...fifty-foot snake, two-foot Bulbasaur...we gotta get in a hit. A big one. But how? Tyler's too small to beat that thing! Ugh, what would the guys in the movies do..._

It was a spur-of-the-moment plan, but it was a working concept: its face. Huge monsters always had vulnerable faces, right? They fucking better, or we were screwed. "Tyler, use Vine Whip to grab its tail! Get ready to go flying!"

A pair of small green vines lanced out of the dust and circled around the end of the Onyx's tail; the smallest stone on the end was still large enough to warrant him a problem with extending his vines so long. That was okay; we didn't need a particularly strong grip. The way I saw it, there were two things that could happen: either it'd slam into him with its head, or whip up its tail and send him flying, where he could either hit the ceiling, the pokemon's face, or miss entirely and slam into the ground three stories down. I was praying for the second one. _Oh god, please work..._

Brock just laughed. "Bad move, trainer: Onyx, send it to the moon!"

The Onyx roared again, then did what I expected: whipped its tail up and send a tiny Bulbasaur skyrocketing into the air. He just kept going up and up and up...I could hear him screaming the whole time. Oh _god _I was scared. I felt like I did when I was running to Viridian with a dying Harper in my arms: heart thrashing, ready to erupt out of my chest, fists clenched, knuckles white, sweating despite the cool temperature...it was a scene out of a nightmare.

After he reached a certain height, Tyler stopped flying up and started to sink gradually, gradually, back down...and got faster and faster. And waiting there to break its fall: an expectant-looking Onyx. A horrific image set its place in my head: the Onyx opening its mouth, Tyler vanishing inside, disappearing into the creature's gullet...I felt faint at the thought. I thought I was going to puke.

Finally, he'd come down enough and had watched for so long that I couldn't wait anymore: _"Vine Whip!"_

Brock must have realized my plan, because he swore. "Oh shit- Onyx, get out of the way!"

It was a gargantuan pokemon and apparently not that bright, because not only did it move slowly, it turned its head in the wrong direction...so when Tyler landed, he caught his footing directly on the monster's snout with assistance from his vines, then used his Vine Whip directly into the creature's left eye.

The result was an ear-wrenching shriek that would have broken out a window, if this gym had any; there probably had been, once upon a time, before someone used a similar tactic. Thick brownish blood oozed down the creature's nose as it thrashed its head, trying to shake Tyler off, who wouldn't give in, one vine wrapped perilously around its snout and upper jaw; I feared that the Onyx would bite it off if it closed its mouth, though it seemed too busy screaming in agony to do that.

More vine whips landed across the creature's face, and hope rose more and more up in my chest: we were winning! We were hurting it! "Go, Tyler, go! Beat it, beat it!"

If Tyler called back, the Onyx's screams covered it up.

It wasn't long before Brock'd had enough and called out, "Fine!", grabbing his pokeball and pointing at his gargantuan pokemon. The entire beast turned red and froze for a split second before it turned to energy and dematerialized before my very eyes.

Rather than relief, fear surged through me: "Shit, Tyler!"

With nothing under him, Tyler fell twenty feet down to the ground, where I sprinted to his side, grabbing him in my arms, so scared I was threatening to burst out into tears at any moment. _"Tyler! _Oh my god, are you alright?"

For a horrific second of stillness, nothing moved - my Bulbasaur didn't respond. After the most painful two seconds of my life, my battered and bloodied green starter slowly lifted his head, one red eye sealed shut from a rapidly-growing welt under his eye, and muttered smugly, "Bulba; saur." _Of course I'm alright: we won._

I hugged my starter as tightly as I dared and started to cry from joy and sweet, sweet relief. I'd come so close to losing a second pokemon, this one my friend and starter...it was too much. I'm not afraid to say I was bawling like a baby; I was so happy he was okay, I didn't even care what I looked like. Pride be damned: my friend was alive. That was all that mattered. "Oh, Tyler..."

I heard Brock chuckle as he walked up to me. "You know, when I said to see if the same strategy worked on something bigger, I was kind of hoping you wouldn't take me seriously."

I burst out into laughter and took the hand that was offered to me.

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><p>Brock walked me down to the Pokemon Center to get our pokemon healed, where I got to enjoy the feeling of having regular people and trainers look at me in awe at being able to speak with someone so famous and well-known as the "Team-" or "Dream-Crusher;" a lot of trainers ended their adventures early because they'd been whipped so thoroughly and soundly that they lost hope. Apparently, the first gym was always the hardest.<p>

"People get hasty," Brock explained to me in the waiting room. "They get cocky and start thinking with their egos, and when they come up to a _real_ challenge, it's disheartening. A lot of people went into my gym and left their hopes behind. Do you have any idea how many people walked into my gym with Bug-types and Pidgey when I first started?"

I instinctively held Keith tighter; I'd discovered my tendency to hug things when I was anxious or worried. "Oh man...I couldn't imagine doing that. Poor Keith'd..." I shuddered, and Keith grunted in displeasure of such thoughts. "...no way. That's crazy."

"Bug Catchers are just collectors," Brock said. "They don't have any real attachments to their pokemon, and sending them to their deaths isn't that big a deal to them: just a disappointment. Then they go back to Viridian Forest and restock their team to try again."

I scoffed. "Bug Catchers..."

"You can't really blame them, though," Brock said. "They're just kids, and they don't get it. They don't understand what it is they're doing."

I sighed, still thinking unkind thoughts about those brainless Bug Catchers. The kid with the two Metapod came to mind...I couldn't help but feel disgusted. "I guess not..."

Brock looked thoughtful for a moment. "...hey, look at it this way: if you never met a pokemon before in your entire life, what would they seem like to you? Animals?"

I nodded slowly. "Yeah, I...I guess so."

Brock nodded. "There you go: kids get raised sheltered, and they see pokemon as just animals. And when they become collectors, they never see them as anything but animals, or maybe training cards. The ones that play video games a lot treat them like characters on a video game, too. It's not that they're cruel or insensitive: they just don't get it."

I nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah...but adults don't get like that, do they?"

"Sometimes. But you're always bound to find people who don't care: there aren't a lot, but you'll find them. Bad things always seem worse than they are; don't let that fool you. There really aren't many bad people out there. Most of them just don't understand."

"Yeah," I said, nodding. "That makes sense."

A short pause ensured as we both returned to our thoughts. Nurse Joy timed her announcement for us to come collect our pokemon perfectly so the silence didn't become awkward.

He may have been famous, but Brock just felt like a swell guy to me. He offered to take my team and I out to dinner while he waited for his Onyx to get treated since it would take longer, but I declined. "I promised Keith I'd get him to evolve today. Maybe some other time."

Brock nodded with a smile. "No problem. If you're ever in the area again, you know where I'm at."

"Alright, can do. I'll see you around; say bye, Keith."

"Later, you two. Good luck with your training."

I left Pewter and wandered back to Route 2 with a smile on my face, extra money in my pocket, and a shiny new Boulder badge on the back of my Trainer's card. Around that time, I was feeling pretty good about myself. I felt like I could evolve Keith no problem. "Alright, Keith, let's get you that training. Nobody turns in before we've got ourselves a Beedrill!"

"Kakuna!"

"No, 'Beedrill.' Get it right."

Keith rolled his eyes as I snickered. But it was only fun for a moment before we got back to the ol' grind.

As it turned out, the few levels that it would take to evolve my Kakuna were more difficult to gain than I originally thought. The pokemon on Route 2 weren't particularly strong, and Keith was a bit above them anyway, since he'd seen a bit more combat than them and even evolved once. Therefore, the training was slow at best, and our destination wasn't just a stone's throw away, either; three levels off of weak wild pokemon took a long time!

There were only Rattata and Pidgey on this route, and while I was reluctant at first, it was becoming increasingly apparent that spamming only Rattata on this route was going to make this already slow training session take a really, really long time. Shoving the discomfort to the back of my mind, I granted Keith permission to fire Poison Sting rounds at every wild pokemon we came across.

The sun was starting to go down, and things weren't looking good: the air was starting to cool off, it was going to get dark soon, and Keith didn't show any signs of evolving. It was beginning to look like maybe I wouldn't be able to keep my promise. In fact, I was just starting to go over the different ways I could let Keith down gently without upsetting him when a Rattata leaped out of the grass, and I sighed, setting Keith on the ground: we'd take out this one, and we'd head in. "Alright, Keith. Poison Sting!"

The Rattata barely had time to move before a flurry of brittle purple needles exploded over its face, forcing it backwards and nearly knocking it off its feet. With a sharp cry, the Rattata lunged forward towards Keith, fangs bared, a look of fury on its face.

"Poison Sting!"

Another wave of purple needs hit the Rattata, each shattering on contact, the force of the volley making the rodent stumble. The wave continued to pummel it, and it was only a matter of time before it was pounded into submission by the volley.

I cheered, pumping a fist. "Awesome! Good work, Keith - another one bites the dust!"

Keith let out a chortling noise, balancing neatly on the tip of his protective shell. Just as I was about to come forward, his body flashed white, and I took a step back, shielding my eyes from the brilliant glow. When I turned back to face him, there wasn't a Kakuna standing there, but a lean, fearsome Beedrill leaning on its arm-lances, looking over itself with flickering red compound eyes that shone with their own dim light.

After he'd gotten done looking at himself and realized what had happened, Keith looked up at me, tilting his head at me, antennae bobbing from the movement. "Bee, Drill?"

A smile slowly grew across my face until it was a full-fledge grin. "Cool nothing: you look _hot."_

Tomorrow was going to be a good day: I could just tell.


	4. Chapter 4

_(I has a sad. Nobody's reviewing to my story. ;~; It almost makes me think no one's even reading it...whyyyyyy? YOU DONT LOVE ME. DX)_

_(Oh well...I guess two is better than nothing. But a story with four chapters needs more than two reviews...please tell me what you think? It's just a click of a button and a couple of words. Please review? Please? Somebody? Anybody? DX)_

_(Delu, you are win. Thank you, love. :3)_

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><p><strong><em>Chapter 4: Shoot For The Moon (Mountain)<em>**

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><p>I slept very well that night. I didn't really dream anything, but I woke up comfortable enough. Because no one wanted to argue with the girl with the Beedrill, I got all but free range of the Pokemon Center's various sleeping locations, and I actually got to score a sleeping bag this time. Some other guy and I both reached forward at the same time, grabbed it off the stack, and I bet he was going to say something before he caught sight of the two lance-arms draped over my shoulders and the red bug-eyes glaring at him, and suddenly he decided sleeping on the floor wouldn't be so bad after all. Worked for me, since I got the last sleeping bag. Sweet!<p>

Not that that made sleeping on the floor any more comfortable, of course, so a little negotiating with two other trainers (that is, Keith making a buzzing noise and looking all scary-like and scaring the hell out of them) earned my team and I a nice cozy spot across the entire couch. No one had the courage to say anything otherwise. It's amazing what a kind smile (and a Beedrill) can get you. Yay for (fear) diplomacy!

I forgot to call my mom the night before, so I called her that morning while my team and I ate some breakfast. "You should have seen it, mom," I told her, gesturing excitedly despite the cellphone I spoke through. "It was amazing! I've never even seen a pokemon that big, and we beat it! Tyler kicked _ass!"_

Two chuckles sounded in unison - one from through the speaker, the other from the little dinosaur munching down something akin to kibble. He didn't seem to mind; probably too hungry to give a damn. "That's great, honey," my mom said. "I'm glad to hear you're doing well. It sounds like a lot of fun!"

"It is! And then I've got Keith over here, and- oh man, you should have seen it! There was one sleeping bag left, and we were going to start arguing and stuff, and he took one look at Keith-" I burst out into laughter. "This is awesome, mom. I love this adventure-thing! I've never had so much fun before!"

"I'm glad to hear you're having a good time. Promise to visit me before you beat everybody though, okay? I might forget what you look like!"

I rolled my eyes. "Sure thing, although at this rate we'll beat the Champion by the end of the week. I'll send you a picture."

"Fair enough!"

We both shared a laugh. I had to hang up early, though, because Keith was having a terrible time trying to bring his food up to his mouth with his big, awkward arm-lances. It was like watching someone with shaking hands eat rice with chopsticks. I had pity and helped him out; it was the least I could do for the guy who helped me get the best sleep I'd had in days.

I got more than enough money from Brock to get some medical supplies, though my stock of Potions was meager at best. The Antidotes were basically useless since Tyler and Keith were both Poison-types, but I would rather have them on hand and not need them than sell them and end up needing them later. The memory of Harper prevented such foolishness for a little extra cash.

After breakfast and shopping, the team and I stopped and let Keith get some leisure time in so he could stretch his wings and figure out this whole flying-thing for himself. He was clumsy at first, but his wings were powerful enough by themselves so it only took a little adjustment before he could fly forward, backward, side to side, and hover in place without even thinking about it. He was doing so good that I decided to lead the way out to Route 3 early so he could work on aerial maneuvers while fighting.

And wouldn't you know that at least 10 trainers were out there just waiting for us? They were all Bug Catchers and some kids with shorts and hats and a few girls off to the side with skirts, looking prim and proper as the younger boys rolled around and wrestled and battled, but they all had pokemon, and they all could fight. Seeing as I might have more to relate to with a fellow female, I approached one of the girls and tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention. "Excuse me, are you here to-"

"Ohmygod, did you just touch me? Ew, ew, ew! Go, Pidgey!"

"Uh, yeah, I'd love to battle. Go get 'em, Keith!"

I bent over to make myself a runway, and a killer Beedrill launched off my back and into the fray like a fighter jet. "Driiiiiiiiill!"

The girl screamed like a pansy and freaked the fuck out, making it easy for Keith to go in and completely annihilate the confused Pidgey without a problem. She got it together slightly and called out a second Pidgey, which looked kind of freaked out itself, ensuring another easy win. There was an order for a Fury Attack, a flash of gleaming blades, and another Pidgey went down in a feathered heap. I left the spazzing girl where she was to find better competition.

We didn't find a whole lot of powerful pokemon, but there were certainly enough of them to provide my eager Beedrill some much-needed fighting time. A Bug Catcher came up to us first, wow'd by the sight of my impressive Bug-type, then had to chase after both of his Caterpie and Metapod in the random directions they'd been sent flying. A kid rambling on about how nice shorts were came next, two Rattata at his side. Both purple rodents were dismissed in a similarly forceful manner. Another kid in a similar uniform came up after that, also rambling about shorts and demanding to know why I wasn't wearing any. I met his question with two Fury Attacks and two very messed up Rattata.

I vaulted over a ledge to investigate a berry patch, noticing a kid there stuffing his pockets with Oran berries. A small Bird-type flitted about under the bush, gulping down what its trainer missed. "Hey, can I get a few of those?"

The kid looked up and shrugged. "If you beat me in a battle, sure."

I was feeling pretty confident about how our recent battles had gone, and of course I sent in Keith, who left his perch on my back to come forward, clashing his arm-lances together in a challenge. "You got it. Feel like getting raped by killer bees today?"

The kid paled for a moment before he grinned. "Nope, not today. Get 'im, Flit!"

Flit the Spearow leaped out of the berry bush and took to the air, wings going nearly as fast as Keith's to keep itself airborne. Its beak was stained blue from the meal it had been busy ingesting. "Speeeeeear!"

It looks more obnoxious than it did deadly, so I didn't really worry about the fact that it was a Flying-type. Keith had faced a few Pidgey before and came out just fine. None of them even knew Gust yet. "Poison Sting!"

"Leer!"

The Spearow stood there glaring at Keith as he raced towards it, thinking unhappy thoughts. While it did that, Keith reared back his abdomen and brought his stinger forward to meet the bird's glare with something a little more forceful, namely in the form of a toxic barb in its chest. The pokemon was shoved back from the force of the blow, in more pain than actual damage inflicted. If getting stung by a regular bee hurt, getting stung by a Beedril must have been hell. I don't know how I managed to sleep with that guy in my sleeping bag without getting stuck myself.

The Youngster grunted, spinning his hat a full 180 degrees around on his head in a sort of "no more fooling around" kind of gesture. "Flit, use Peck!"

My eyes widened at the clearly Flying-type move. "Oh shit. Keith, Harden!"

As he had never learned another move besides Fury Attack, Keith still possessed all of his abilities and attacks from his prior evolution phases, including his Kakuna stage. He brought his arms up to bear and visibly tensed, and I heard a light crackling noise as all the hair follicles on his body went rigid and started to solidify just as the Spearow crashed into him beak-first. The Peck hit home regardless of his added defense, and it looked like it hurt. "_Bee!"_

"Fuck!" I blurted, unconsciously stepping forward as my Beedrill was pushed back. "Keith, are you okay?"

There was a bloody spot where the Spearow's beak had impacted, but Keith looked relatively unfazed. If anything, he just looked pissed off. "Beedrill!"

I grinned. "Alright, show that sucker! Fury Attack!"

And boy did he ever. The Spearow didn't even get to dodge before Keith had tackled it, bringing both of them down to the ground as he started to stab the living shit out of the hapless bird pokemon. Flashing arm-blades gleamed off the light of the afternoon sun, and bloodied feathers started piling up like reddened snow.

Hey, I warned him. My Beedrill didn't just own: he _raped. _

After Keith single-handedly owned every single trainer we came in contact with, I called out Tyler to get some business done and granted Keith a little time to rest after the hell he had inflicted on just everything behind us. "Okay, Ty. Let's go catch us some pokemon."

My Bulbasaur looked up at me quizzically. "Saur?"

"Yeah, we're expanding the team. Not that you guys aren't totally awesome or anything, but we're going to need more than just two fighters working with us if we're going to get better. Pros have full teams, you know."

Tyler thought on this briefly before shrugging and following me into the tall grass. Keith kept his arms wrapped around my neck as he hung off my shoulders, glowering red eyes flicking all around, technically on rest but still very much up to bat and on the lookout. He was the guarding and vigilant bee warrior, and I was the queen. He would protect me.

It didn't take a whole lot of searching before we found a likely contestant: a short, spunky little Spearow that rushed recklessly forward with a cry the second it saw us. Considering it was the only pokemon we'd encountered so far that stood half a chance against Keith, I considered it the perfect new member to our team.

Tyler jumped forward to meet its charge with a Tackle of his own, then used his vines to snap around it and pin its stubby wings to its body and effectively ground it. He shot me a look and called "Bulba!", indicating that it was pinned and prime for capture.

I whipped out a pokeball a second later and chucked it at the struggling bird pokemon. I actually missed, but Tyler reached out with one paw and kicked it at the Spearow, which was then sucked up into a beam of light and into the capsule. He then went the extra step of holding the ball shut with his paws to make sure it didn't pop open again until the pokemon inside stopped squirming.

"Bulbasaur!" he declared to me proudly, marching back with a swagger in his step. He had, after all, just caught that pokemon basically all by himself.

I grinned and pat his head, accepting the pokeball from him as I did so. "Nice one, buddy," I congratulated. "We have a third party member thanks to you."

Tyler somehow managed to look even more proud of himself. He was stronger than ever and the hands-down heavyweight of the team, but he still couldn't do a backflip, as his failed attempt and ass-landing proved. It was hilarious regardless.

I called out my new Spearow after that, admiring her plumage - it was definitely a her, considering her feathers. Males had bright red wings; this one's were a faded red-brown. My new female Spearow. "How does Linda sound, girl?"

The bird pokemon nodded without hesitation, crowing "Speeeeeear!" loud for all to hear, as if broadcasting it to the world.

Linda and Keith, both capable of flight, seemed to bond immediately. As soon as we started off again, Keith leaped off my back - his decided perch of choice - and took to the air to join Linda in a midair tumble, spinning and spamming barrel roles and having a grand ol' time playing tag. Tyler and I hung out on the ground together, smiling to ourselves and watching them play, admiring our good choice in who to catch. They looked like a couple of kids having fun. It was cute.

There weren't a whole lot of trainers along this part of the route, though we did find one: a snobbish chick that stared at us like we'd spat on the bible. "Did you just _look_ at me?"

Oh god, not another one of these. "Linda, time for your first battle! Let's go!"

My Spearow swooped down to a respectable position in front of me, all business and no more screwing around right off the bat. Keith descended shortly after, looping his scrawny arms around my back as he peeked over my shoulder to watch.

The snobbish girl sent out a snobbish ball of pink fluff, and I immediately identified the pokemon as a Jigglypuff: a favorite of many children and girls who liked cutesy things. It was rather fitting for her - especially with it's haughty expression. Even if it was mostly just for looks, it was still considerably larger than Linda, whose first battle would be now. I was a little worried. She could do it, though; she had agility that thing couldn't even dream of.

"Alright, Linda," I directed. "Start off with Leer!"

"Defense Curl!"

Linda glared menacingly as the Jigglypuff curled into a ball, canceling out the stat reduction.

I grunted in annoyance. "Leer!"

"Defense Curl!"

The same thing happened, and I sighed. "Leer!"

"Defense Curl!"

Okay, _now_ I was getting annoyed. "Goddammit, will you stop that?"

The girl snickered coyly and gave me a smirk, ordering her pokemon to Defense Curl _again._

Considering that this useless exchange was just exasperating and a waste of time, I switched tactics. That puff ball couldn't be that tough, right? A few blows ought to deflate it no problem. "Peck it!"

Linda raced forward, flapping her wings wildly as she slammed into the pink pokemon beak-first, leaving an unkind mark where the angled point had struck. Apart from making it roll, however, the Jigglypuff looked unfazed, curling up into _another _Defense Curl.

I grunted in increasingly growing irritation. "Okay, this is getting old. Peck it up!"

So she did: Linda continued to apply numerous Pecks to the Jigglypuff's person, creating bloody marks that got less and less effective as the pokemon was less inclined to uncurl from a ball as its defense grew, thereby reducing the move's effectiveness. That was such a cheap tactic: spamming defense moves. Something a Bug Catcher would do. It was pissing me off.

I was almost delighted when the pokemon's defense couldn't go up any more, but quickly became displeased after a nice Pound struck Linda dead in the face, knocking her clean out of the air. "Linda, are you okay?"

Dazed but enthusiastic nonetheless, Linda staggered upright, flapping her wings unevenly before regaining coordination and rushing forward zealously in a midair cavalry charge. Her aim was dead-on, but the Jigglypuff just rolled like a marble, jumped up, and planted a punch square in the center of her face again. "Spear!"

"Crap," I muttered, rethinking my tactics. Okay...so maybe it was a little tougher than I gave it credit. "Linda, Growl - weaken it more! It doesn't know Attack-raising moves!"

Just as Linda oriented herself once again, shaking her head to reduce the stunning effect, the Lass gave another order: "Sing!"

Aw hell.

To be perfectly honest, the Jigglypuff didn't sound that bad, considering Sing was its signature move. I myself found it hard to not concentrate on its graceful, melodic voice, plugging my ears and singing "Lalalalalala!" over the noise so I, too, wouldn't get knocked out. As it was, I was still a bit groggy by the time it stopped, and when I looked, Linda was flat on the ground, out like like a light. Keith was limp and barely hanging off my shoulders, red eyes dim, and Tyler was having a hard time standing upright. It looked like he'd tried a similar tactic as me, but with far less success. Even the Lass looked sleepy.

"Goddammit," I muttered, resisting a yawn as I returned Linda in a flash of light. "Cheap-ass trick...Tyler, you good? I think you're the only one not asleep."

He looked up at me half-liddedly, but Tyler nodded regardless, already ambling forward towards the sickeningly sweet-looking Jigglypuff. He pulled out his vines and gave himself a few good slaps in the face to help wake himself up a bit more. Smart boy.

Alright, battle time. "That thing's defense is huge by now - Leech Seed!"

Despite the way it rolled out of the way like a bowling ball down a lane, the Jigglypuff was unable to avoid all of the seeds that were sent shooting its way in a volley, and several sprouts stood out against its fluffy pink body. It visibly shuddered as the growths all twitched in unison; Tyler grinned as even more stamina was provided for him. Already working.

"Jiggly, use Pound!"

"Vine Whip its ass!"

The Jigglypuff managed to land a blow on Tyler's snout, then went shooting back towards its trainer for its trouble, even as it let out a cry as more and more stamina was slowly drained away from it. Good against a newly-caught Spearow but not a fully-trained starter, it wasn't long before the Jigglypuff was slowly widdled away, even with its massive defense in place, and we eventually walked away the victors, albeit a bunch of slightly groggy ones. Keith woke up a little while after, though Linda was practically comatose.

Luckily for us, there was a Pokemon Center at the foot of Mt. Moon, and I took advantage of this by giving my team a well-deserved pit stop before we hit the mountain. I went back to the waiting area as my team was healed, cracking my neck and rubbing my feet. Dammit, they were starting to get tense already. They were going to be on fire by the time we got through to Cerulean. I needed better shoes.

As I mused how much a new pair of shoes would cost, some guy sneaked up to me while I wasn't looking, somehow managing to appear in the seat next to me without me knowing. "Hey kid."

I perked up quickly, glancing around. "Who, me?"

The guy nodded twitchily. "Yeah, you. I got a deal for you..."

I waved him off quickly. I wasn't in the mood for shady businessmen looking for some customers. "Sorry, I'm not interested."

"You sure? I think I got what you need for some great success on that little journey of yours..."

While initially repulsed, I couldn't help but feel tempted by the offer. "Yeah?"

"Uh-huh. See, right here, I got me something...500 pokebucks. Dirt-cheap. You'll never find one around here - guaranteed."

"Huh." Despite my better judgement, I turned my head to face the anxious man. "Interesting. What is it?"

The man paused dramatically, looking around the empty Pokemon Center's waiting area to check if anyone was listening, then whispered in my ear one word: "Magikarp."

"...you're kidding me."

The man shook his head. He was dead serious about it.

I got up out of my seat and walked away without a word...well, bar one. "Dumbass."

My team came back shortly after that, whom I collected and waited until we'd left the Pokemon Center to tell of my riveting experience and the opportunity I'd turned down. Tyler burst out into laughed; Keith planted his face into the side of one of his arm-lances. Linda looked a bit disappointed that I'd turned down a free meal.

The entrance to Mt. Moon wasn't far off, and I clapped my hands together eagerly. "Alright, guys," I said. "I hear there are some Clefairy in here somewhere. If anyone sees one, call out and we'll grab it up."

Really, it was a girly kind of desire, but goddammit, Clefairy were _cool. _They came from outer-freaking-space and worshiped moon-rocks, plus learned every other move under the sun for no apparent reason at all. If there was one kind of pokemon I was looking to have, it was that - not just because they were rare and cool, but because they'd make a nice addition to the team. The pro Clefable you could find out there were borderline invincible and knew _everything. _I'd even heard that some of them had been trained to explode like bombs...not that I wanted to catch a suicide bomber. Just that it'd be cool to have a pokemon like that. You know, besides the whole exploding-thing.

I stepped into Mt. Moon with high hopes, and the first thing that happened: a Zubat crashed into my face like a bug on a windshield. _"Gah!"_

That pretty much set the tone for our trek through Mt. Moon. I'd personally rather call it Mt. Math because, just like math, it was long, painful, and annoying. It was full of blood-sucking bats and as dark as fuck too, but that didn't really have much to do with math so much as it was just more annoying and painful. And annoying. Did I mention annoying?

No wonder Clefairy were so rare: you'd have to be the best navigator in the world to get through this cave, let alone find treasure in it, neither of which looked like possibilities for us. Despite my desire to just get out of there and get it over with, none of the trainers stalking around in the dark seemed to have that problem, and we were getting ambushed by hyperactive Youngsters and Lasses just as much as we were those goddamned Zubat. I must have taken at least six to the face before anything good happened. Screw hair nets, I needed a helmet!

I stopped looking for Clefairy and started focusing on how to get the hell out of there pretty fast. Having Keith really helped, not just for security in the all-consuming darkness but for his glowing red eyes, which cast a dim red glow all around when he really focused and gave us more time to anticipate a turn or avoid crashing into a wall...or, in my case, duck to avoid an incoming Zubat that were even more blind than we were. Whatever happened to their echolocation, anyway? Weren't they supposed to be really good at navigating caves?

As it was becoming less and less convenient all the time, I switched out Linda for Tyler; we wouldn't be getting any good training here for her anyway. I was running out of Potions already, and we hadn't even made it off the first floor yet. The Geodude were easy: one Vine Whip would send them flying or, in one particular case, smashed them into the wall. And various other solid locations.

"Good one, Ty!" I cheered, laughing at the sight of a particularly unlucky Geodude that had gotten its head fused with the ceiling above us.

Tyler snickered and stood up a little taller, then paused with a weird look on his face. I was about to ask him what it was before he started to glow, the sharp white light overpowering the dim red from Keith's eyes and shocking my night vision out of existence. "What the-"

Before I knew it, I owned not a Bulbasaur anymore, but a lean, mean-looking Ivysaur. Despite his natural scowl, Tyler seemed delighted and even started trying to do backflips again; he was heavier than before, however, so it didn't count for much more than a little extra momentum for him to slam down on his back and jaw his now blooming bulb.

I laughed and hugged my Ivysaur. "Aw, Tyler, I'm so proud of you. Even if you are a total showboat."

Tyler chuckled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head with a paw. The darkness plus Keith's dim red light effectively cloaked the blush on his face, though I still knew it was there.

That was probably the best thing that happened that entire time, though, and the rest of the trek was pretty miserable. In fact, I had a sneaking suspicion that we were just walking around in really big circles covering the entire length of the mountain's interior without even getting anywhere. Add in a non-stop trickle of Zubat, Geodude, the occasional Paras, and not a single Clefairy to be found, and our optimism had since deteriorated into a borderline desperation to _get the fuck out._ Which was a bit of a problem, considering we were hopelessly lost by this point.

I swore as I drained what remained of a Potion onto one of Keith's more demanding sores; those Zubat, while not particularly effective against a Bug and Poison-type with just Astonish and Leech Life, were still pretty hazardous. "Shit," I muttered, dropping the empty can to the ground. "That was the last one, wasn't it?" I dug through my bag briefly, and sure enough, the main flap was particularly empty of any useful medical supplies besides Antidote. Not even the few Oran berries I'd collected earlier remained. "Damn."

Keith watched with guilty relief as the raw spot on his abdomen disappeared, then cast his red glow up to me. Linda looked worse for wear and a bit exhausted; she was about on equal grounds with half the Zubat that came in, even if every one beaten meant she was stronger. Tyler's generally featureless poker face was laced with concern and evident worry about the situation; even if he was the heavyweight of the team, he couldn't last forever on his own power. No Potions and no way out was a serious problem we had here.

I smiled despite myself, trying to ease their nerves. "Really, it's not that bad, you guys," I assured them, stepping blindly into the dark as I shouldered my bag. "We'll just play it cool from now on - dodge what fights we can, convince any trainers to lend a hand and that we're not able to battle, and we should be-"

I stopped abruptly as the ground suddenly disappeared under my feet, and a scream involuntarily escaped my throat as I started to fall. _"Shit!"_

The ground sure felt like a long way down, though really it was probably only about ten feet or so. Not that bad a fall, though definitely enough to knock the air out of you if you don't see it coming. That, and falling on rock from any distance tended to hurt. "Oof..."

I had arms on me before I knew it, cold and hard against my skin, and I freaked out for half a second before I recognized the red glow and the familiar sound of buzzing wings. "Drill!"

I coughed once, then managed a sigh of relief. "Thanks, Keith," I wheezed, taking advantage of his sturdiness to rise off my feet. "I'm fine, bud...I owe ya...one...erk..."

Breathing was a problem for a second as I held my gut, but I started to regain full use of my lungs as I used them more. A flutter of wings indicated where Linda had clumsily landed beside me; there was a _thump, _plus a bit of scratching of claws as Tyler came staggering into view, looking as winded as I used to. Turns out Ivysaur can't use ladders too well. Keith stayed at my side the whole time, supporting me with his arm-lances even as I started to breathe normally.

The concern they all showed me was touching, and I found myself smiling in the dark despite the discomfort. There was no better feeling than knowing I had strong friends that were out there looking after me.

"Hey!"

I whirled around, nearly losing my footing as I did so. It was impossible to see in the darkness until Keith came forward, eyes blazing bright crimson and arm-lances open in an obvious challenge. The man he illuminated appeared to be dressed in all black, bar a symbol on his chest I couldn't make out in the light; it must have been red as well, because it was hard to see. "Me?"

"Yeah you!" he snapped, adjusting what I guessed were night-vision glasses. "What are you doing? You're not supposed to be here!"

I raised my hands, taking a step back - none of the people I'd run into had been this hostile, not even the trainers, and I'd already decided we would try to avoid fights if we could. We didn't have any supplies left. "I'm sorry, we got lost and then I fell down-"

The man whipped his head to the side, letting out a noise I guessed came from spitting. "Tch...fucking brat, stumbling in here...this could screw everything up!"

I felt a chill run up my spine. It occurred to me then that maybe I wasn't the only one that wasn't supposed to be here. "I-I'm sorry, I'll just go ahead and leave right now..."

I could see the man grin in the dim red light that barely illuminated him. He retrieved something round on his belt - a shape I clearly recognized. "Oh no, can't have that. Can't have you going off and telling anyone what you saw." He whipped something out into the dark, and a flash of light indicated that it was a pokeball. "Kill this snitch!"

Aw crap. "Oh god!" I cried, stumbling backwards in the dark - I tripped over a rock and landed on my ass, grasping wildly for the ladder that I couldn't find. "Guys, get him!"

Both Tyler and Linda moved to go, but couldn't because their light source had faded. The now brilliant red light took on a strobe effect as Keith went into "psycho killer bee-mode," and judging by the occasional sound of metal on stone, I had to say that he was using Fury Attack. That, and that he was very, very angry. His guardian bee instincts had kicked in, and he was going to completely annihilate anything that dared to threaten his queen - me. I was his queen. He'd protect me.

The knowledge that my own Beedrill was going crazy on someone because they had threatened to hurt me was touching, and it filled me with pride. I stopped grasping for the ladder and stood, merely watching the wildly swinging red light as it flew all over, always focused on the Rattata that was now getting absolutely raped by sheer awesomeness.

Not surprisingly, Keith beat the shit out of it, and I mean that in the most literal of senses. By the time he was done and the crimson light from his eyes focused on a still Rattata, I couldn't have been able to tell you that it was even a pokemon. It looked twice as bad as any roadkill ever had. I could barely see it...it must have been covered in blood. Red on red didn't show up well. I didn't even know where its body started and stopped. "Jesus..."

I heard Keith buzz once in a "humph" kind of way, scraping his metallic blades together to rid them of some of the blood. He was looking around now, trying to find the owner of the clearly dead Rattata. He couldn't find him.

Suddenly feeling vulnerable, I reached out to where I remembered Tyler to be, hanging onto his closed red flower for security and orientation. "Try to find him," I said, voice scarcely over a whisper. "The room's pretty small...Keith, try to find him. You're the one with the light."

Keith nodded and stepped warily into the darkness, red eyes lighting the way, his insectoid feet and irony talons clicking against the stone as he moved himself along, illuminating every nook and cranny he could find. Linda and Tyler stayed by me through touch, blind but listening intently, heads twitching to every little sound they heard. I joined them, heart racing, as vulnerable as ever. I'd never had a guy that could be after me before, and it was scary. Anyone who thinks getting hunted is fun can go kick a Kakuna somewhere.

As I expected, Keith didn't find him. The man had jumped up and gone past me to the ladder, escaping while his pokemon stayed as a distraction for us. He sacrificed his pokemon to save his own skin.

The man's selfish motives and heartless behavior riddled me with disgust, even as I sat there waiting for Keith to give the all-clear. "Is he there?"

Keith came back up to me and shook his head, eyes focused on me, warming me with the red light. Knowing that I was in the gaze of my protector was soothing to say the least.

I sighed. "I figured." I returned Linda, who was audibly panting in the absolute silence, then returned Tyler as well so we could make our way back up the ladder to the floor above. "Come on, let's get the hell out of here before he comes back and brings his buddies."

Keith latched securely to my back and nodded, head rubbing against mine. I silently hoped that he'd never let go.

Now that I knew there were men with sinister intentions that weren't afraid to kill or send things off to their death, my exasperation was dissolved and replaced with the fear that came with knowing there were monsters in the dark that could see you but you couldn't see. I felt like a little girl wandering around in the dark, no blanket to pull my head under, not a bed to look fearfully under but an entire cave that didn't seem to end. I had a few extra things I didn't have when I was little, however: Tyler, Linda, and my guardian bee Keith, all of whom were alert and searching the darkness at all times, ready to defend me with their lives. Despite the obvious vulnerability I faced, I couldn't have felt more protected.

These guys were more than just my friends: they were like family. Precious family that would always be there. It was beautiful. I'd never felt so humbled before by such...selfless devotion. I didn't feel worthy.

Keith's weight and warmth was better than any blanket. What's more, he really _could _keep the monsters and bad guys away. _Where was this guy when I was six? I could have saved so much sleep back then..._

Anxiety and impending dread aside, not a ton happened. The Zubat continued to trickle in, a few Paras and Geodude had to be swatted aside, and we were still somewhat lost, though we made considerable headway now that we'd found a ladder going down that we hadn't found before. Hopefully this was the right way, because I think I spoke for everyone when I say I was ready to leave now.

My team's endurance was stretched to the limit as we pressed further on. Not only were nerves running high, but so we the exhaustion level, and I didn't have a choice but to return Linda so she didn't pass out or otherwise hyperventilate. She wasn't weathered like the others were. Even though Tyler and Keith were leagues ahead of her, even they were starting to feel it, and I didn't doubt that Keith was hanging onto me now because he was too tired to keep flying. Tyler led the way, using his Leech Seed as a secondary means of recovery as the Zubat continued to come, plus a few pokemon too large to be wild and not native to the mountainous area, such as Ekans and a few more Rattata, whose trainers I suspected were nearby and watching. The Leech Seed alternative was probably the only thing keeping Tyler and Keith upright at this point. If he ran out of PP...

It didn't seem necessary to consider that, though, as not only did the light level increase, I could see a light at the end of the tunnel we were in - literally! As in, outside! Thanking a thousand different gods that may or may not have existed, I ran forward to lead the way to safety, already envisioning the sweet grass and precious sun-

"Hold it!"

I screamed and scrambled to a halt, falling over as I did so. My heart practically exploded, and I feared the worst - more men with black clothes, bloodthirsty pokemon under their command, hate in their eyes-

But instead, all I saw was a freaky dude with cokebottle glasses and looked like he hadn't bathed in months. "Y-you!" he rambled, pointing a shaking finger at me - like the murderous Beedrill between us didn't matter. "Y-you're...you're one of them, aren't you? One of them..."

It didn't take a genius to figure out that he wasn't all there. I rose up quickly and cocked my head at him. "One of who? Those guys in the cave?"

"Rocket!" the man blurted, expression wild; I didn't realize right away that he was holding a bundle of rocks and hugging them protectively. "You're a...Rocket! Man in the t-tunnel- Rocket! R-Rocket!"

My jaw hit the floor - not just in shock, but astonishment that I hadn't put two and two together. The black outfits, the red symbol, definitely an R, the inconsideration for life...a modern mafia. I had walked into the midst of one of the largest criminal organizations in the world. "Are you- Rockets? Those guys were fucking _Rockets?"_

The man screamed like the word was poison, chucking out a pokeball. "NO- no, you can't have them! I found them, they're mine! Grimer, go!"

Insane guys weren't my forte, but battles I could do. Disturbed yet in my area of expertise, I gestured to Tyler. "Take him out - Leech Seed and Tackle. We're almost out of here, let's just get this over with."

Tyler stepped forward confidently, crimson eyes containing fatigue and unyielding determination. A flurry of green seeds spouted out of his bulb, littering the glob of purple sludge and taking root on seemingly nothing. However it worked was fine, though, because it drained away at it nonetheless.

The Grimer wasn't particularly powerful, more a nuisance than a real threat, and gradual widdling away at its health with Tackles as the Leech Seed kept Tyler going was all it took to take it down. Next up was a Koffing, which was also more annoying than really dangerous; it smelled terrible, much like the Grimer, and its ability to float away to avoid attacks made it a bit difficult to hit at times, though there was no avoiding Tyler's Leech Seed. The same process was then carried out before the psycho nerd-guy called out a Voltorb, who was probably the most competent of the trio, if not for its tendency to do more dodging than actual fighting. Tyler Leech Seeded it before I gave the poor guy a break and let Keith wipe the floor with him and get a small share of health while he was at it. Apart from the shared Leech Seed, there was nothing else that could be used to heal them, and we needed all the extra stamina we could get.

When the Voltorb's eyes rolled into the back of its head, the psycho-nerd freaked the fuck out as he returned his last pokemon. "No- no no no no! No, you can't have them- I found them! My precious!" He then turned with his precious bunch of rocks and ran like Hell itself was on his heels, even managing to drop a few of the oddly shaped stones as he did so. For caring so much about those rocks of his, he sure wasn't very careful.

I wasn't sure whether to be freaked out or pleased now that the fiasco was over and eventually resigned to heaving a sigh of relief, hefting Keith back onto my back; poor guy was tired. So was Tyler, and I knew Linda was, too. "C'mon, you guys," I said, exhaustion starting to creep up on me and my shot nerves. "Let's just get out of here."

Both Tyler and Keith nodded happily in agreement and seemed more than pleased to join me on getting out. As we did, however, one of Tyler's vines snaked out and scooped up one of the many discarded stones that the odd man had left behind. I accepted the stone, gave it a look-over, and shrugged to myself, stuffing it in my pocket. If we were going to leave here, we might as well get something out of it. Who knows: it may actually be worth something.

The second we walked outside and the sun hit my skin, I took in a long, deep breath, savoring the open space. The outside had never, ever seemed so good. I was about ready to get on my knees and kiss the ground, but I refrained from doing so; Keith was starting to feel a little heavy. I couldn't believe that we'd really been in there so long that she sun was starting to go down. I mean, granted I knew it was a while that we'd been wandering around, and I figured it would have been a few hours, but _damn. _We really _were _lost in there for while. At least we were out of there and, hopefully, never coming back. Even if I had found a Clefairy, the trek still wouldn't have been worth it.

The trek down from the mountain was rough and bumpy, and as I eased down a few ledges, I knew that I wouldn't have to worry about coming back here. It wasn't even possible anyway; the climb would be too much, even if we were all at full capacity. Which we weren't, of course, which made the trip even more hell for us. I had to return Keith because my back was starting to hurt and he was too tired to fly; I did the same for Tyler to give him a little rest. I hiked down to Cerulean by myself.

I staggered into the Pokemon Center, placed and belt with three pokeballs on the counter, and barely had the strength to flop into a chair. When they were ready, I politely asked if the nurse could release them and let them come to me. She must have taken my dirty, battered, weary appearance for what it was, because she just smiled and did so, bringing the pokeballs up to me from the counter. My legs were on fire, and I didn't think I had the strength to stand anyway.

Tyler, Keith, Linda and I ended up in a mound on the floor, and we didn't even have the time to find a comfortable spot before we were all out like lights, taking some well-needed rest to sleep off the exhaustion from the biggest hike any of us had ever been on. Mt. Moon had been hell.

Unfortunately for us, the worst of it all had not even begun. We better enjoy our sleep: come tomorrow, we were going to need it.

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><p><strong><em>AN:<em>**

I freaking hate Mt. Moon. And why is it that whenever I go in there I can never find a Clefairy? Not even halfway worth it. GOD. DX

Well, at least that's over. Unfortunately, there's more on the way, and I choose a few more trips through Mt. Moon over what's in store...

What shall happen, you ask? Read on, viewers, read on. :3

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><p><strong><em>Team Roster<em>**

_Tyler - Ivysaur - Level 18  
><em>_Keith - Beedrill - Level 16  
><em>_Linda - Spearow - Level 10_

_Team Members Lost (Today): 0_

_Team Members Lost (Total): 1_

_The Journey continues..._


	5. Chapter 5

_(Four reviews for four chapters! :D Alas, my second-ever reviewer was not very helpful. A "cool story bro"-style comment isn't that great for getting that much-needed feedback, you know? x.x)_

_(I guess I DID ask for a review, but come on now. That's just lazy. Was that really all you guys thought when you read what I've been working so hard on? "Cool" or "that's nice" and such nonsequitors? Not any other thought besides that? That's not good at all! That means I'm failing! DX)_

_(Well, another thanks to Delu, who technically remains my reviewer to this story so far. You are a peach, love. :3)  
><em>

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><p><strong><em>Chapter Five: So Much For A Pitstop<em>**

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><p>We were all pretty exhausted after our trek through Mt. Moon, but the memory of what happened in there - the sinister men in black, uniforms bearing a single crimson R - was still fresh in our minds. Maybe that was why we huddled together like we did: we were all a bit freaked out. After all, who would have thought Team Rocket was screwing around in Mt. Moon the minute we decided to pass through? And what did we screw up? What if they decided to come after us and make sure we stayed quiet?<p>

It seemed like a good idea that we keep a low profile for a little while until things cooled over. If there were mafia members running around, doing mafia things, we should just keep our heads down. I didn't sign up for that kind of thing. I just wanted to be a trainer. Leave Team Rocket's shit out of it, thanks.

As per the promise, I sent back half my earnings from Mt. Moon, not leaving a whole lot for me afterward, but every little bit counted. I had enough for half a dozen Potions anyway, so it wasn't too bad. At least I was starting to earn more at a time now.

I called my mom after breakfast, letting her know about how un-fun the mountain had been but leaving out the bit about Team Rocket. There was no sense in worrying her about things.

After another meager shopping spree, the team and I took a small break from training to go around Cerulean, taking in the sights and seeing what the city had to offer. It was kind of like Viridian, except with more water - too big to be a town, but too small to be a respectable city. There were a lot of people walking around, enjoying the fresh air with a friend or a pokemon of their own, just like us. We passed by a girl who seemed to be struggling with her Slowbro; it was obviously traded, and it was either too dumb or too haughty to understand what the girl was saying, so it just sat there and stared at a tree like a dope. It was actually fairly amusing. Tyler wanted to fight it, but I said that it was stupid but probably a bitch when it was pissed off. Judging by its size and obviously high level, he reluctantly agreed.

The city was a fairly small community with not a whole lot to see bar some pretty scenery, so we eventually went back towards Mt. Moon; it was a bitch to traverse, but we were past that now. All I could see was a nice place to train. Some relaxing time was nice, but Tyler was getting antsy, and Linda really looked ready to do some training. She didn't like being behind; she wanted to be rape-ass like Keith and Tyler. So while she and Keith tumbled in midair, working off excess energy, Tyler and I tread into the tall grass to see if we could find a way back up.

Unfortunately, my hunch from yesterday had been right on the money: the climb was too steep for us to make it back up. Keith and Linda could go ahead, since they could fly, but I didn't want them going on all by themselves. If they got hurt, I'd have no way of knowing or helping them, and they'd be fucked. So no more Mt. Moon for us.

Linda's head drooped slightly as she perched on my arm, sighing, "Spear," in obvious disappointment. Keith let out a huff, crossing his arms over his chest in a pout. Even Tyler seemed kind of let down.

I gave all three of them a nudge. "Aw, c'mon you guys," I said, trying to get their spirits up. "We don't need that dumb mountain. Besides, that's where Team Rocket's at. We don't want to deal with them. I bet that guy's still pretty pissed about his Rattata."

Tyler growled, "Vy," with a fierce expression, standing up a bit taller - obviously he thought he could take them. Keith bristled at the memory, still eager for payback against the goon that tried to hurt me. Linda, ready for a fight in general, cawed loudly.

I nudged Linda lightly, reaching up to pat Keith's head. "No, we want to avoid those guys. They're a lot of trouble." I gestured down the hill away from the mountain. "There's some tall grass over there. If you guys want to battle, we can go down there and do some grinding. Remember that we're supposed to be taking it easy today."

Tyler just huffed, grumbling confirmation. Glad that she'd at least get to fight _something,_ Linda took off from my arm and raced ahead, cawing a challenge. Keith took off after her, unwilling to be left behind and to prove he was still the strongest flier on the team.

I smiled as I watched them fly off and start to tackle each other again, once more admiring their sibling-like relationship. "You wouldn't think a bird and a bee would get along that well," I mused aloud. "They're like brother and sister."

Tyler nodded by my side, watching his teammates fly about with a thoughtful expression. "Saur."

I grinned as a thought came to me. "I guess that makes us the parents, huh?"

Tyler chuckled, then started to climb down the hill after them. One vine reached back up to snake around my hand, tugging me along. "Ivysaur, sa." _C'mon, let's go; don't want the kids to get anxious._

My team really was a family. In fact, it was a family that I had started. Seeing them so eager and energetic made me feel unnaturally old...heck, maybe I _was_ turning out to be the mother of the team.

It was times like these that I couldn't love being a trainer more: we were together, we were happy, and we were having fun. It was the stuff of dreams.

Alas, the pokemon on this route simply weren't up to specs for us, and even Linda was finding the competition lacking. Since it wasn't the best spot for grinding, I decided to make this a chance to expand the team and caught a small, somewhat shy Sandshrew that I named Ian. He was a cute little fellow, and I took a liking to him immediately. He wasn't that great a fighter, so while Linda and Keith harassed the local wildlife, I sat down on the edge of the grass with Tyler and started getting to know my new pokemon a little better. His bashful, modest nature made him even more endearing, and Tyler and I declared him a perfect addition to the team. He definitely had the personality-half of the equation down.

As for actual fighting, I decided that he would take some training but that he'd make a great battler someday. He had great Defense for a newbie, and all he needed was some good moves and a little experience for him to become a powerhouse like Tyler. He picked up on the same rapid-fire guerrilla tactics of Keith, who was also powerful but lacked the moves necessary to fully take advantage of his sizable offense stats. They both knew Poison Sting, so the same stat-infliction strategy worked for both of them, and battles were longer but generally geared towards victory for us. This made for slow training, but he had good enough stats that he could hold his own against foes considerably more powerful than him. He had a lot of potential, and I was more than ready to help him realize it.

But the wildlife around here wasn't much of an improvement from that of the other side of Mt. Moon - lots of Rattata and a couple Spearow and Sandshrew - so the team and I decided it'd be a good idea to go back to Cerulean and see if we couldn't find a trainer or two north of the city, where I heard the cape had a lot of visitors coming by to check out a local PokeManiac. If nothing else, maybe we'd get to see something pretty cool to make it worth our while.

I led the way back into town, Keith hanging off my back with his arms around my neck, Linda perched neatly on my arm, Tyler and Ian making small talk as they walked along behind me. I had my chin up and a smile on my face, enthusiasm seemingly limitless as I marched along. A beautiful day, pretty scenery, nice town, training to do...this was the life. It didn't seem to get any better than this.

And then it all came crumbling down.

I heard a honk behind me, and I turned just in time to yelp and stumble back as a red corvette nearly ran me over, screeching to a halt just in time. Ian and Tyler had leaped to the side to avoid being flattened, the latter of whom was snapping furious curses at the clumsy vehicle. I assisted him in this regard, rubbing my arm where Linda had dug her claws into my flesh; god, I had to stop playing perch for my bird pokemon. "What the fuck, moron?" I fumed. "Can't you see me walking here? This isn't even a road! You could have killed me!" Keith buzzed furiously in unison with me; even the cool and shy Ian was grumbling under his breath.

The driver seemed about as pissed at me as I was at him, and he climbed out of the driver's seat, already snapping back at me about how I should, "Get out of the way!" His Charmander sat in the front seat beside him, looking impatiently ahead, wanting to just keep moving. It looked as haughty as its trainer did.

It took me a moment, but eventually I realized why I was expecting all this from that guy: I knew him. All too well, in fact. "...you gotta be kidding me."

Geki sneered as he recognized me as well. "Well well, I guess you're still alive after all." He sat coolly back into his seat, flipping his hair like the pretty-boy he was, arrogance as thick as pudding. "I guess I should have expected you'd still be struggling along back here. After all, you don't have a sweet ride like me."

I scoffed, lip curling in disgust. To be honest, his car really wasn't that impressive. Especially since _he_ owned it. "Give me a break. I'm actually enjoying the scenery out here; you know, bonding with nature? At least I'm not polluting the environment with that gas-guzzling hunk of crap."

Geki's eyebrow twitched and he scowled. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Freakin' hippy." His sour look turned into a smirk. "Well, I was just about to celebrate our newest gym badge with a date with some desperate broad at the cape, and you just happen to be here, all alone..." He flicked his hair again, trying so hard to act charming that I wanted to punch him in the face. "I feel bad for you, always straggling along behind me, and I'm a pretty swell guy and all, so how about a date? I figure no one else is gonna ask you out anyway, so you may as well take what you can get."

I think my blood pressure increased a few notches from that statement alone. I looked at him like the fucktard he was, opened my mouth to speak, then closed it so I could gather up some spit and land a nice wet spot of spittle on his "awesome" car.

Geki practically vaulted out of his seat in horror, scrambling around to wipe up the spit I'd placed on the hood. He looked like a maid, the way he used that towel. "Hey, don't screw up my car! I just got this thing washed!"

I rolled my eyes and turned to leave. What a jackass. "Fuck you, Geki."

My team came after me, very much off-put by the guy's obvious audacity and nerve. Even the others that hadn't met him before knew he was a douche.

Before we could get to the bridge, however, Geki came screeching forward in his car and whipped in front of me, cutting us off. "Alright then," Geki said, a sinister gleam in his eye. "If you aren't sporting enough to accept a gentleman's offer, you'll have to battle me to make up for it!"

"No way!" I snapped with a stomp of my foot. "Goddammit, Geki, I was having a good day so far! Get the fuck out of my way!"

Geki didn't relent. He emerged from his car with his Charmander in step, whipping out a pokeball with a graceful toss and summoning a Pidgeotto from its confines. "What's the matter? You _scaaaared? _Nyahahaha!"

My hands clenched into trembling fists in anticipation of punching the guy's lights out. I wouldn't admit it, but deep down, I was actually quite concerned. Geki had already earned his second gym badge before me, and with that car of his to cart his lazy ass around, he probably had more time to go to distant areas and get some better training. His pokemon were probably a full set of levels above my own, and Linda and Ian still had a lot of training to do. We weren't ready for a battle like this yet.

But it didn't really look like we had a choice in the matter. Geki wasn't moving, and that idiot wouldn't take no for an answer. It was either fight or back off, and I wouldn't let myself back down from the likes of _him._ Besides, guys like this needed a firm kick in the balls, and I'd be more than happy to oblige. If I had to brutalize his pokemon to get to that, so be it; his team looked as haughty as him anyway. What I wouldn't give to wipe that smirk off that Charmander's face...

In the end, battle was inevitable, and I scoffed in disgust and irritation. "Whatever. Linda, kick its ass."

Linda charged forward with a, "Speeeear!" regarding the larger and superior Flying-type like it was nothing more than a particularly plump Caterpie. She rushed in recklessly, Peck on the way, ready to tear the Pidgeotto - a pokemon I had, admittedly, wanted for myself once upon a time - a new one.

The Pidgeotto looked ready for her. It jumped up off the ground and thrust its wings once, shooting it upwards and out of the range of Linda's beak. She moved to follow, but its wings were far larger than hers. She couldn't hope to keep up with it.

Geki smirked at my concerned expression. "Nice, Pidgeotto. Use Gust - ground that wimpy sparrow!"

The Pidgeotto stopped going upwards and started to flap its wings even harder, fanning down massive winds down on Linda. Her tiny wings couldn't take that kind of wind, and she was thrashing her wings furiously even as she went flying downwards, now falling more than she was flying. "Speeear!"

"Now, Quick Attack!"

Crap. Now I knew we were in trouble. "Linda, dodge - get out of the way!"

Linda nosed to the side, but the Pidgeotto was on her in a blink. It was up above her one instant, gone the next, and suddenly smashed into her and sent her plummeting to the ground, riding her downward until she crashed into the dirt, talons holding her down. _"Row!"_

I swore loudly, and Geki let out a laugh. "Go - peck its brains out!"

Pidgeotto didn't know Peck, but it didn't take a genius to figure out how to use its beak, and it did so with alomb, not using a genuine move to attack Linda but savagely using its beak as a cudgel to pummel her with, drawing blood every other peck. Clumps of brown feathers went flying every which way like pillow stuffing, and Linda screamed in agony, unable to move. The pokemon's weight prevented her from moving. She was stuck, and it was beating the crap out of her.

"Stop!" I shrieked in horror. "Stop it - stop! She's down- stop it!"

Geki didn't make a move or otherwise order his pokemon, watching the scene with a grin I think belonged on Satan himself. The Pidgeotto continued to tear into the pinned Spearow without hesitation. It was clear what its intent was.

I pulled out Linda's pokeball and withdrew her, sighing in relief as she turned to energy and the Pidgeotto's feet touched the ground where they had been pressing into her. "What the fuck is wrong with you?" I screeched at him, horrified and aglow with anger. "She was pinned! She couldn't defend herself! You could have killed her!"

Geki just shrugged casually, flipping his hair with his hand - his Pidgeotto mirrored its trainer with a flick of its head. "Winning is winning."

I wanted to kill that guy. I ignored his desire for battle for now and released Linda beside me, cradling the ravaged ball of bleeding, bumpy skin and torn feathers. "Linda, are you okay?"

She was weak and bloody, but Linda was still with me. She raised her head with a cough, then croaked out, "Spear."

I smiled and pat her head lightly. "Thatta girl." I turned to Keith, who was leaning his head far past my shoulder, obviously concerned. "It's okay, buddy, she'll be fine. Get out there and beat the crap out of that thing, would you kindly?"

Keith buzzed furiously, wings pounding the air with tiny shockwaves as he took off my back and jerked towards the battle, clashing his arm-lances together vigorously. He was ready for some payback.

Geki let out a laugh. "Bug against Flying? Oh man, this should be easy. Gust attack!"

The Pidgeotto reared back its wings to send some sharp winds his way, but Keith was already airborne and driven by anger and a thirst for revenge for hurting his friend. The Pidgeotto's eyes widened in alarm just before he crashed into it, stabbing it in the middle with his stinger, Poison Stinging once for every time it had pecked Linda while she was defenseless. The bird pokemon shrieked in pain and took to the air, thrashing back and forth as it tried to get the killer bee pokemon off it. Keith held on tight, determined to inject every drop of venom he possessed into it before he was shaken off.

Geki's smirk wavered, but only for a moment. "Fly at the ground and Gust!"

The Pidgeotto continued to shriek as it was stabbed, angling downward towards the ground in a sharp dive-bomb maneuver. It pulled up at the last second, the inertia carrying Keith forward and slamming him into the ground. He tried to scramble up just before the Pidgeotto took off again and started to slam gusts of forceful wind into him, pinning him into the ground.

My heart was hammering; I hadn't even emptied the Potion I was using on Linda, I was so frantic. Not Keith...oh god, I couldn't lose Keith. Harper had been bad enough. "Harden and Focus Energy - try and endure it!"

Keith curled up into a ball and went rigid, solidifying every bristle on his body like needles and hardening his exoskeleton with his prior evolution's ability. I saw his skin flash red as energy pumped through him, giving him the extra boost of power he'd need.

Seeing the Beedrill was pinned, Geki ordered his pokemon to stop attacking, then said, "Dive-bomb it - pound it into the ground!"

The Pidgeotto's wings stopped flapping, holding it in the air for one perilous moment before it started falling downward, talons extended and ready to sink them into its decided prey. It looked hungry for a kill.

Quickly I ordered, "Now! Fury Attack!"

Keith was like lightning, snapping up and doing a hand-stand with his arm-lances dug into the ground to keep him anchored. The Pidgeotto slammed feet-first into the ground where he'd been a second before, dazed from the impact, then started to scream as Keith flipped upright and leaped onto its back, landing blow after blow into its unprotected backside with his sharp barbs. Blood was drawn with every stab, and reddened plumage started to scatter like snowflakes. His already prevalent anger ensured for quite the volley, though it went down before he could finish his barrage. I could see him consider unloading into it like it had with Linda, but he was the better man and merely rose off the ground, flying back to my side. I nodded proudly and pat his head with a smile.

Geki scoffed, returning his battered pokemon in a flash. "Tch...cheap trick." He gestured to his Charmander, who was already shifting anxiously. "Go get 'em, tiger."

The pokemon cheered "Char!" and leaped forward, tail thrashing and sending embers across the ground, claws recently cleaned and gleaming. Its eyes were set on the pokemon who it had already decided would be its opponent: Tyler.

Tyler returned its glare with bared teeth, and I knew there was no talking him out of it. I wasn't crazy enough to stand between an irritated Ivysaur and his arch nemesis. "Okay, go ahead. But be careful: it must know Ember by now."

If Tyler cared, he didn't show it, merely trudging forward with an arched back, teeth grating together. You could practically feel the heat emanating from their glares as they glowered at each other. If they had been friends back at Oak's lab, they certainly weren't now.

Gary grinned. "Hehe. Charmander, Metal Claw!"

"Dodge and use Leech Seed!"

Tyler started forward at an angle as the Charmander raced straight in, then leaped to the side as a set of steely blades slashed through the air past his head. A pair of vines whipped out of his back, one twisting it around with a push of its shoulder, the other socking it in the face and pushing it back, throwing the Fire-type off balance so it would have less of a chance to dodge the flurry of seeds he launched at it. The fiery lizard caught his footing and snapped around, swatting a wave of seeds out of the air with a fiery whip of its tail. What few seeds could take hold were incinerated in a cough of flame from its mouth.

Not bad. This thing had clearly had some training done with it. "Poison Powder, then use Tackle!"

"Ember!"

Tyler leaned forward to spout a cloud of purple dust at the Fire-type's face. The Charmander just grinned, then opened its mouth to spit out a flurry of red-hot shards of fire through the air. The embers went into the cloud of Poison Powder and spontaneously caught the toxic spores on fire, creating a ball of heat and rolling flame that looked more like an explosion than a regular Ember attack. The fire washed over Tyler's front and made him stumble back, roaring in pain. Black blisters crawled up his nose where the heat had prickled his skin. He was hurt, but Tyler was tough enough to take the Super-Effective move and keep on going. The ensuring Tackle showed the opposing pokemon exactly what he thought of its clever trick.

Tyler was determined, but the exchange of blows was starting to show that he really wasn't entirely prepared for a battle against a Fire-type of its caliber. I bit my lip for a moment, then called up, "Tyler, come back! It's too strong!"

Eager for a fight but definitely not stupid, Tyler agreed and came running back, glaring over its shoulder the whole time. He was covered in scratches and scorch marks, and while the Charmander was definitely hurt too, he'd clearly taken the brunt of the damage between them. He'd come out on top before and evolved once, but the facts were facts: Fire-types weren't a Grass-type's friend.

I figured since he had an advantage, I motioned for Ian to step forward in Tyler's place. "Okay, Ian, show us what you're made of. Poison Sting!"

"Dodge and use Metal Claw!"

A flurry of purple needs escaped Ian's mouth, and while the Charmander was agile, it couldn't dodge them all. It received a glancing blow as purple crystals splintered on its skin, but the blow wasn't anywhere near enough to stop it as it rushed forward with a murderous expression, claws glinting a glassy shade of silver.

Oh crap. "Ian, get out of the way! Dodge!"

Ian gave it his all, but he simply wasn't fast enough to avoid the incoming attack. He was in the middle of trying to roll into a Defense Curl when the blades on the Charmander's hand raked across the back of his neck, punching through his protective armor like it was nothing and causing blood to spurt out in a spray. Speckles of the red splashed across the Charmander's face, who didn't seem to care. Its face was one of satisfaction as Ian spasmed and crumpled to the ground at its feet. It couldn't be more proud.

"Ian!" I shrieked, rushing forward. Geki snapped something about staying off the field, but I ignored him, forcibly shoving the Charmander speckled with Sandshrew blood aside and onto the ground as I held my pokemon, turning him over. Hot blood rolled over my fingers and dripped onto the ground. "Oh god, Ian! Ian, can you hear me? Say something!"

Ian twitched once but didn't respond, azure blue eyes staring blankly up into the sky. A glossy sheen slowly started to crawl over his dilated pupils as red continued to leak out of the gash in the back of his neck. Several major arteries were likely severed, and the gash was deep enough that it might have been able to cut between the vertebrae of his spine and into the back of his windpipe. My fingers sought out a pulse across his neck, but I found nothing. The warmth was slowly seeping out of his body, and he wouldn't respond to my calls. He was clearly, obviously dead.

"No," I whispered, unbelieving that this had happened again. Another pokemon I had just acquired - dead, just like that. Killed by a foe that showed no mercy and that he didn't stand a chance against. A foe I had sent him out to face. Ten minutes ago I had been looking forward into his future, and now he was gone. _Dead. _"No..."

Geki just flipped his hair again in annoyance, snide and stupid as usual like him killing my pokemon was the most casual thing in the world. "Are you going to call out your next pokemon or what? I got places to be, you know."

His Charmander grunted in agreement, licking the blood of its claws - the blood of the pokemon it had just killed. It didn't seem to show an ounce of regret for what it had done.

Heartbroken and filled with grief, my sorrow was replaced by rage - a thirst for vengeance that knew no bounds. That thing was going to pay. "Linda, destroy it!"

Battered and plucked of feathers in places, my nonetheless vigorous Spearow charged forward with a crowing "Speeeeear!" demanding justice for the death of her comrade in-arms. As she did so, I forced myself away from Ian's body and came to Tyler's side, ignoring the blood on my hands as I sprayed his snout with another Potion; if we were going to beat this guy, he was going to need to be at full strength. He stood the best chance against it; he had the second-highest Special Defense and highest Attack on the team.

I wasn't even done spritzing his wounds before I heard Geki yell, "Ember!" and an avian screech of pain, and I leaped to my feet. "Linda!" I screamed, watching a ball of fire fall to the ground. "Linda, no!"

Once again did I race forward, totally unaware of Geki's protests to, "Follow the rules!" as I patted furiously at the burning clumps of feathers across Linda's body. "No!" I cried, scooping up the little ball of smoldering feathers and burnt skin. "Linda! Oh god, not you too- Linda! Linda!"

She writhed for a moment in agony before Linda fell painfully still, the last of her feathers set aglow with tiny embers that worked down the shattered membranes and started into her skin, filling my nose with the putrid stink of burning flesh. I doused her with a Potion to put out what remained of the flames, but she didn't move or make a noise. Another pokemon had died in my arms.

Grief and pain hit me like a bullet, and I screamed, _"No!"_

What sounded like a chainsaw went off behind me, and Keith went blazing forward with balls of fire roaring in his skull, blind with fury and vengeance. The Charmander barely had time to see him coming before it was on the ground, completely at the Beedrill's mercy, who was too enraged and stricken with grief to really give a shit about being the better man anymore. Charmander took a rage-fueled Fury Attack head-on without a means to stop it, and it could do nothing but struggle and screech as it was stabbed and gored repeatedly from every given angle conceivable by an enraged, vengeful Beedrill. Poison was pumped into its veins as Keith's arm-lances did their best to empty them out and turn the Charmander to mush.

Keith would have killed that Charmander if Geki hadn't called him back, quickly replacing it with an Abra, who knew nothing but Teleport and didn't stand a chance. Tyler leaped forward and planted it with some Leech Seeds as it darted about the field in flashes of light, and while he couldn't get many hits in, it wasn't long before it went down and could fight no more. A Rattata came out and was promptly raped by Keith, who stabbed the living daylights out of the purple rodent, intent on skinning it alive. Geki returned it before he got the chance.

The battle was over, but I hadn't won. Nobody won. Two of my friends were dead - half of my team, my _family_ - and I was angry. Angry and hurt and so filled with grief that the conclusion of the battle did nothing to comfort me. "Dammit!" I screeched, stomping furiously into the ground, unloading my pained fury into the dirt - an inanimate object that couldn't do anything but take it. Tears spilled down my face like rainfall; shards of my heart rattled in my chest like broken glass. "Dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit! _Dammit!"_

"Hey!" Geki said, throwing his hands up. "Chill out, okay? You won! Calm down!"

I turned on him, tears pouring down my face, hate in my eyes. That son of a bitch...all he could think about was winning. Winning, winning, no matter what the loser had to suffer...I wanted to hurt him. I really, really did. I wanted him to scream, to bleed, to hurt, just like my friends had - not just kill him, but make him _suffer._ That son of a bitch killed my friends - Ian and Linda, gone forever. He _murdered_ them, and now he deserved to get his. He-

Red flashed in front of my eyes, and I stabbed my finger out, like I wanted to gore him through the face with it. "Fury Attack!"

Geki looked surprised...but he only looked _really_ scared when he realized that I was pointing past him. "Oh crap!"

"Oh crap," was right. I don't think coverage extended to "raped by Beedrill" on any known auto-insurance plans.

While Keith was busy planting his arm-lances in various places across the steely exterior of Geki's car (his cries and screams of agony weren't quite what I had initially wanted but pleased me nonetheless, albeit distantly), I fell down to my knees next to the bodies of my fallen pokemon, placing an arm around both of them and pulling them in towards me. I looked over their still, broken forms - a Sandshrew with the back of his neck gouged out, a Spearow that had been lit on fire and burned alive - and my already broken heart broke a little more.

I couldn't believe it. It all had happened so fast...hadn't we been happy before? Yesterday, an hour ago, twenty minutes ago? Five minutes ago? We'd all been together. We had been a team. We were family. And now they were gone - taken away from me in an instant, all for...I don't even know why. No reason at all, maybe. We'd all been there one minute, and now they were dead, broken and burned and bloody in my arms. What was all the death for? What did this mean to anyone? Why did it have to be like this?

I felt cool leathery skin on my hand, and I closed it into a fist to grip onto the vine that Tyler had slipped between my fingers. "They're gone," I whimpered, tears flowing - I didn't even bother trying to stop them. Why bother? What did it even matter, anyway? "They're d-dead...oh my god...no. No..."

Tyler's jaw clenched tightly as his crimson eyes looked over the corpses of his friends. His eyes were watering, and he looked away, unable to bear the sight - the blood that was still warm. The blood of his friends. "Saur..."

It had all been so perfect. Why did it have to be taken away?

I took both Ian's and Linda's pokeballs and returned them to them, sucking their bodies into their original capsules, which faded from red and white to an ashen gray as lifeless as their contents. They felt colder in my hands; I didn't know if it was my imagination or not, and I didn't care. The hurt was all I could think about. "Keith," I called, voice cracking. "Enough, okay, just...no more."

My Beedrill stopped, though not without whirling wildly around and buzzing hard enough to make anyone else's throat raw. His compound red eyes were damp with moisture, and grief was written all over his mandibled, insectoid face. "Beedrill, bee!" _He killed them. He deserves to suffer._

I just rose up off the ground, not bothering with the blood on my hands. I understood how he felt: he wanted revenge. He wanted to make Geki pay for what he did. "No more," I repeated, shaking my head weakly. I was already walking back towards Cerulean, though that was just a coincidence; I didn't know where I was going. I just wanted to get away from there. "No more, just...no more. Let's go. Please."

Still shaking with pain and anger, Keith gave Geki a long, hard glare, undoubtedly considering the pros and cons to digging his blades into something more flesh. In the end, he left Geki alone as the crazy-haired asshole freaked out about his disaster of a car, fastening down on my back, and hugging me tight from behind with a sobbing, "Driiiiiill..."

I pat my Beedrill's head and said nothing. Tyler followed obediently as we staggered back into town with two less team members than we had left with.

* * *

><p>We wandered around a long time, going nowhere and doing nothing, just...wandering. Tyler followed me without hesitation, too absorbed in his own silent grieving to think of what to do himself. Moisture from Keith's eyes leaked down onto my shoulders, and I pat his head and held Tyler's vine as we walked around without direction. I don't know if a trainer tried to stop us or not, but if they did, I ignored them. Another battle was something I couldn't handle at the moment.<p>

We buried Ian and Linda beside the patch of grass we had discovered our Sandshrew friend, and while I wanted to return to the other side of Mt. Moon to give Linda a proper funeral at her own home, the mountain itself was unable to be cleared from this angle. Just another way that I felt I'd let my avian friend down.

Keith used his blades like spades to dig into the earth, then like chisels to break up the rock where the ground became too hard to just scoop up. Once he got down to about six feet, Tyler carefully lowered their bodies down into the hole with his vines, then helped Keith and I push the dirt back into the hole. Then we sat there in the dirt, staring distantly at the recently filled makeshift grave, unable to do much but just sit there and mourn. It felt like it was up to me to say something - say a few words, think about all the good times we'd had together - but I blew it and just sat there like an idiot, too caught up in my own troubles to provide a proper service for my fallen pokemon. I felt like such an asshole. I didn't deserve to say anything anyway; someone that hadn't screwed up deserved to say something. Not me. Not the one who held the blame for what had happened.

We sat there a long time, crying silently, but eventually we got up and headed back to the Pokemon Center, hearts heavy and feet dragging. I felt like the weight of the world was on my shoulders as we passed through those doors. I'm surprised the tiles didn't split under my feet.

Tyler just wanted to be left alone, and I respected his wishes by returning him to his pokeball, granting him the solitude he desired. Keith wanted to be held, and I provided by cradling him against me, his head tucked under my chin, antennae tickling my neck. He would buzz sadly every so often, and I would mutter "Shh, it's okay" to him quietly, keeping him company. He had been particularly hurt by the recent loss; Linda had been his best friend. First he saw Harper die, and now he had to lose Linda, too...the poor guy. I felt so bad for him. And as for me, I...guess I comforted myself by comforting what remained of my team. I didn't want to think - I just wanted to hold and be held and make everything better again like none of this had ever happened.

I felt like shit - not just because my friends had died, but because I was the trainer and I had been the one to send both of them out to their deaths. Geki's Charmander killed them, and it was Geki's fault for letting his pokemon do that, but it had been _my _responsibility to look after them. Linda and Ian had put their faith in me, and I had failed them. I sent them out to a foe they couldn't handle, and they died because of it. Now I had to deal with the grief that I had earned, and the grief my team was suffering from. Maybe, if i made them feel better and removed all the collateral, everything would be okay again. Everyone would have what they deserved then: no pain for them and all the guilt on me. That was fair. That was what I wanted. I just wished they'd stop hurting.

But they didn't stop hurting. Keith was still hurting, and as time went by, he started to get angry. Angrier, and angrier, and angrier, all the way up to the point of where he wasn't crying anymore and was screeching furious, insectoid curses, blades flailing wildly, stinger throbbing with potent toxins, eyes blazing a brilliant crimson. All the people in the Pokemon Center looked quite concerned, maybe even a bit freaked out, but I just sat there and did nothing. I'd let Keith cope how he wanted to. He had a right to be angry.

Nurse Joy approached me after a little while, and she and I decided it would be in my (and everyone else's) best interest to take Keith north onto what people had dubbed "Nugget Bridge" and get him some battles to help him vent some of that anger. Granted that's what I planned in the first place, but he was really flying off the handle...Beedrill were more inclined to get angry anyway, especially since it was Beedrill mating season, and it seemed like a good idea to find him an outlet - namely a few battles - before he lost it totally and hurt someone who didn't need to be hurt. We'd seen enough of that already.

The first trainer was a Bug Catcher, and he didn't stand a chance against Keith's fury. The next trainer never knew what hit him - both he and his Rattata were sent scrambling for cover, trying to figure out what the hell just happened. The Lass that followed had to fish her Nidoran pair out of the river, the other kid got wasted as well, and the last boy - some smart-ass Youngster with a Mankey - got a first-hand lesson on why a pig-monkey karate-chopping and Low Kicking a pissed, hurt, angry Beedrill was a very, very bad idea.

As the last kid went scrambling back to Cerulean to heal his pokemon, I paused when I heard clapping, turning to see the guy at the end of the bridge congratulating us with his applause. "Congratulations," he praised. "Five trainers in a row, all with the same pokemon. I have to say that I'm impressed. Your Beedrill is most powerful."

Keith huffed and clacked his mandibles together, buzzing over to me to take up his respective position on my back. I eyed the guy expectantly. "Those kids promised a reward, now fork it over. Do I have to fight you or what?"

The man laughed, reaching into his pocket. "No, no, I think you've quite earned your reward." He pulled out a small, heavy sphere of gold metal and tossed it to me. "That's your prize: a nugget of solid gold. Maybe that will cheer you up a bit."

I examined the nugget skeptically, genuinely doubting it to be real gold like the man said. I sighed regardless, shaking my head. "Thanks. And I'm sorry, I'm just...having a really bad day right now."

"I see. Are you the one who lost your pokemon earlier at the end of the bridge?"

Keith winced and grew tense. I reached up and stroked the side of his head, muttering somberly, "Don't remind me."

The man nodded slowly, looking the two of us over very carefully. "I was watching that from here. You must be rather angry over what happened."

I nodded quietly, continuing to comfort my guardian bee, who leaned his head into my hand, accepting the comfort. Helping him helped me in a little way.

"And I'm sure that you'd be out looking for some...revenge, yes?"

I turned to look at the man, who was starting to look at me rather strangely. "I'm not in the mood for foreplay, buddy. Just say what you're gonna say."

The man smiled in a way that made me uncomfortable, a gleam to his eye that I didn't quite like. "I think that you'd make an excellent recruit for Team Rocket. You've got a lot of anger in you, and Team Rocket has a use for that anger. We can give you direction - make you stronger than you ever thought possible before - and you can do whatever you want. Including making that guy and people like him pay for his insolence. Sound like a deal?"

It took a full second for me to register what was being asked of me, and...okay, I'm not going to lie: I thought about it. I thought really, really hard about it, too. He was right, I _was _angry. I'd been wronged, my friends had been wronged, and Geki got to walk away from two murders with nothing more than a wrecked car and a team of fainted pokemon. That wasn't right, that wasn't right at all. He deserved more than that. He needed to answer for his crimes - for the wrongs that he'd committed. Maybe law and order wouldn't see justice done, but Team Rocket? They got shit done. They knew how to get their hands dirty and do what they had to. And they were the perfect people to turn to when looking to make someone pay.

But something stuck with me...the day before, back in Mt. Moon. The man we ran into sent out his Rattata, not only guaranteeing its death and abandoning it, but sending it after _me: _some kid who was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. He killed his pokemon, and he would have killed me, too, had my team not been looking out for me. Linda had seen it for herself, and she'd fought for me - battled for my life. To join Team Rocket, to throw away what she did...it would have been a disrespect greater than any other. Joining a group of men like Team Rocket would be a betrayal of everything I ever stood for - including my friends. My _family. _Mom, Tyler, Keith, Linda and Ian...how could I betray them?

After a long minute, I inhaled slowly, then breathed out, "No."

The man looked stunned for a moment, then scowled. "Hey, I'm giving you a big opportunity here - a chance for some payback! Don't you want justice? Vengeance? Payback?"

"A crime was committed that took my friends away," I said carefully, voice calm and even. "If I followed you and teamed up with a bunch of criminals, the injustice would be even worse. And yes, I _do _want justice." My eyes narrowed, recognizing the guy in front of me as an enemy. "Justice for the Rattata I watched one of your goons throw away so he could save his own skin. There's going to be justice for that right now."

Keith buzzed so low it sounded more like a growl, leaning farther forward over my shoulder, eyes blazing fiercely. If there was someone I imagined he wanted to take his anger out on, I figured it'd be Team Rocket. _They _were the real criminals here. Scum like them didn't even deserve to live, let alone wield a pokemon like a tool to be used and disposed of.

The man's frown deepened, but he didn't relent. "Oh come on. Join us!"

"No."

"I said join!"

"No!"

"I'm telling you to join!"

"And I'm telling you to _fuck off!"_

The Rocket made a move towards me, but a hard shove from Keith forced him back, making him back away more as he hovered forward, scraping his arm-lances together, buzzing a warning. The man scoffed, grabbing a pokeball off his belt. "Well, fine. If you won't join, I guess I'll just have to enlist you myself! Go, Ekans!"

I didn't even have to tell Keith anything for him to know what to do: he raced in, dodged a Bite by rolling to the side in midair, then started to land blows all across the serpent's body, stretching out the Fury Attack for as long as he could. While the pokemon was still reeling, he flashed red with Focus Energy, then unloaded another round of Fury Attacks on it until the pokemon was beaten down into submission, bloody and unconscious. The Machop that followed it was equally ill-suited for a battle against Keith, especially when he was pissed off and fighting for my sake as much as anything. My guardian bee beat the shit out of that ugly little blue humanoid with energy to spare.

The Rocket recruiter grunted, returning the pile of crap that used to be his pokemon. "You little bitch," he growled. "You won't get away with this! No one crosses Team Rocket and gets away wi-"

The man was abruptly cut off as Keith flew straight towards him like he was going to attack. He went to dodge, but Keith made a swiping move with his arm-lance, catching him across the collar and stabbing straight through his shirt, yanking him closer so their faces were touching. His blazing red eyes burned holes into the spaces where the man's eyes were. "Driiiiiiiiiill."

The guy looked ready to piss himself, and I suppressed my amusement enough so I wasn't smiling, my face cold and expression fierce. "Get the hell out of here," I hissed venomously. "My Beedrill just watched two of his friends die, and he'd like nothing more than to stab your face out. I'm pretty tempted to let him."

Suffice to say that that guy got out of there pretty fast when Keith let go of him. We both were willing to bet he shat himself about halfway down the bridge when Keith made a fake dive-bomb at him and knocked his hat off.

I scoffed bitterly. "Loser."

"Bee."

I didn't like leaving Tyler all alone the entire time, so I let him out to see how he was doing. He was despondent and depressed, but it didn't seem like anything a little battling couldn't fix. Keith took a little break while Tyler led the way, doing his share of ass-kicking on the rest of the trainers on the route ahead as we continued on. Hikers got sent back up the mountain in tears; little kids in camping gear ran for their lives against the might of my ferocious Ivysaur. Around the fifth or sixth trainer he figured out how to shoot out a wave of razor-edged leaves, which did, like, three times as much damage as Vine Whip. He chose Razor Leaf as his primary power-move instead of Vine Whip, saving his vines for non-combat situations, like holding my hand. He did a lot of that on that route.

We made it up to the PokeManiac's house up at the cape, found out that his name was Bill, and also discovered that he had a habit of turning himself into Clefairy. I'm not even kidding. He had this little tube-thing he jumped in, and he made me press some button on his computer that sent him from one tube to the other in some, like, cheap 60's science fiction experiment or something. He came out of one chamber, now fully human and separate from his scarred-for-life Clefairy. I actually felt pretty bad for the little thing. No wonder they called him a Poke"Maniac."

I didn't really care about his pokemon collection anymore, and he wanted to pay me back pretty badly, so I settled for some random ticket to a cruise liner anchored up at Vermilion City a little to the south. I wasn't really interested, but he said the boat was always full of trainers and fancy old people with TONS of money, and I definitely had to get some of that. I decided that I'd take a hike down to Vermilion tomorrow. For now, it was time to head in.

I went back to Cerulean using a back-passage that went beside the river Nugget Bridge went over, keeping an eye out for anyone familiar or otherwise shady. I didn't see the Rocket recruiter, nor did I see Geki. Good; by that time, I was probably ready to kill both of them myself.

We weren't ready for a gym battle yet, so we didn't even bother with that. My pokemon got healed and the three of us took advantage of Keith's fearsome appearance by scaring off a pair of trainers on the couch, claiming it as our own to sleep on for the night.

Tyler crawled up behind me and sat down behind my head, offering himself to serve as my pillow, one vine coiled around my hand. Keith retracted his stinger and crawled up onto me, curling up on my chest. Both of them still looked hurt and upset, and I didn't blame them. Losing two friends in one day had been a big deal for all of us.

"Don't worry, you guys," I cooed, rubbing both of their heads. I smiled as they scooted closer to me, and I hugged them both. "It'll be okay. We'll get through this, and someday we'll be so strong that nothing like this will ever happen again. You'll see."

Keith let out a small buzz and clicked his mandibles together, arms wrapping a little tighter around my neck. Tyler rubbed his head against mine and said nothing. I couldn't tell if they believed me or not, but that was okay. I didn't really believe it myself.

We all gradually fell asleep like that, warm and comforted with each other's presence. A lot today had gone wrong - things that would undoubtedly continue and cause a lot of grief in the future - but we still had hope. At least we still had each other.

* * *

><p><strong><em>AN:<em>**

You know what? I really liked those pokemon. I HAZ A SAD. D'X

*sigh* But I guess that's bound to happen in a Nuzlocke Challenge, right? Pokemon are going to get hurt, especially after I get attached to them. I'm really surprised I've managed to keep Keith alive this long, since Bug-pokemon are notoriously hard to keep alive in Nuzlocke Challenges, but I guess I should have expected that. Keith rapes ass. Yay Keith!

...yeah, I guess I have a favorite. I try not to, because I just KNOW the second I start getting so attached to him I'll just die if he dies, he will, but a lot of good that did me. I love my Beedrill. I'm going to be SO sad if/when he dies, and that is going to _SUCK._ Nuzlocke, y u always take my favorites? D: He's not gone yet, but I'm going to have to be careful if I intend to keep him. Which I do.

By the way, I hate Geki. He's a dick. Who _doesn't_ hate their rival-figure in FireRed/LeafGreen, am I rite?

Cheers to Delu, who Beta'd for me and brought the chapter up to spoof. AH LUV U. :D

* * *

><p><strong><em>Team Roster<em>**

_Tyler - Ivysaur - Level 23  
>Keith - Beedrill - Level 19<em>

_Pokemon Lost (Today): 2  
>Linda - Spearow - Level 12<br>Ian - Sandshrew - Level 10_

_Pokemon Lost (Total): 3_

_The adventure continues...  
><em>


	6. Chapter 6

_(Yay for more reviewers! Yay for awesome peeps! :D)_

_(I quite enjoyed this chapter, so I hope you will too. Fufufufu.)_

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><p><em><strong>Chapter Six: Seaward Ho!<strong>_

* * *

><p>I woke up with an Ivysaur pillow under my head, a Beedrill curled up and cozy on my chest, warm and comfortable in my sleeping bag on the Pokemon Center's couch. I felt tired from not sleeping well, and that combined with the warmth made me extremely reluctant to move. I gave into the sloth of a tired morning and sat there as long as I could until the Nurse Joys started going around serving breakfast. Even then, it took me a while before I decided it was time to wake up and start moving.<p>

I really didn't want to call my mom that day. It's not that I didn't want to talk to her, it's just...I didn't want to talk about...you know. Linda and Ian. They were too recent for me to start opening up, and I really didn't want to deal with it. But I promised I'd call, and if I didn't do it now then I probably never would. There was no sense in putting it off. I might as well just get it over with.

She picked up quickly after I pushed the "send" button on my phone, since she probably had been hovering over her own all morning. It was eight in the morning, but you'd think she'd been up for hours. "Good morning, Rein! Are you Champion yet?"

I chuckled and shook my head. "I don't even have my second badge yet, mom."

"Aw, really?" she said, feigning disappointment. "Well you better hurry it up, little missy! Those gym leaders are going to get bored if you don't get a move on!"

I laughed again. That was my mom for you. "Sure thing, mom. We'll get right on that."

"Awesome! How's your team?"

I shrugged more to myself than anyone. "Well, y'know, they're fine...getting stronger by the day. Keith learned Twinneedle the other day."

"That's your Beedrill, right?"

I nodded...oh yeah, phone. Right. "Yeah."

"Ooh, I bet you're having fun with him. It's Beedrill mating season."

I laughed. "Actually, he's not that bad. He spends all his time worrying about me and playing bouncer instead of impressing the ladies. I don't think he's interested in them."

"Oh come now, you know how boys are."

"Do not. I'm an innocent little angel."

"Who are you and what have you done with my Rein?"

I burst out into laughter at that. My mom knew me too well.

"How many pokemon do you have now?"

I cringed. "Uh...two."

"Really? I thought you had more."

I tried talking the idea down. "You're thinking Harper."

"No, just yesterday you mentioned catching something...I thought you had a third pokemon."

I swallowed, my throat suddenly dry. "No, it's...just Tyler and Keith and me."

"...huh."

All of a sudden I didn't feel like talking anymore. "Mom, I gotta go...I gotta help Keith eat again. You know, no hands..."

"Okay. I'll talk to you later, and have fun!"

I clicked the "end" button, cutting the call short. I thought a long moment before holding it down and turning the phone off.

I didn't really lie, because I _did_ stop and try and get Keith to eat something, since he refused to, but he just wasn't up to it, and I didn't press him. I _did_ make him promise that he'd eat lunch, though; depressed or not, he still had to eat. He was a tough battler and a bug with a naturally high metabolism, and he needed to eat _something._ I'd only be so leniant on these things.

Tyler had me a little worried. Usually he was pretty active in the morning, but he barely even moved since I gave them both breakfast. I came up to him and sat down, placing an arm around him. "Hey," I said softly. "Are you okay?"

Tyler shurgged a little, muttering, "Saur," as he continued to stare off at the far wall.

"You didn't eat much," I said, poking his bowl of "PokeChow," as the brand was called. "You not very hungry either?"

Tyler shrugged again, glancing his maroon eyes up to seek out Keith, who was slumped against the counter with his arms crossed in an obvious sulk, glaring at people who walked up and buzzing grumpily if they got too close. Clearly not a happy camper. "V...saur."

"Still upset over yesterday?"

Tyler just sighed and said nothing.

I leaned a little bit more into Tyler's side, fingering the edges of his flower's closed petals. "Me too."

Tyler didn't say anything, just brought his head over and laid it on my thigh. I smiled and pat his head, rubbing behind his ears to comfort him. We sat there in silence and silently mourned.

Keith sat off by himself by the counter, scowling when someone approached and jerking his arm at anyone who tried to use the PC system. After a while, though, he started to get lonely, hence why he rose off the floor, hobbled over on his arm-lances, and flopped forward into my lap. The three of us sat together now, sad and depressed and silent.

I sighed after a while, patting both my pokemon's heads. "Look, you guys," I said. "Linda and Ian are gone. They're not hurting anymore, they're not in pain...they're at peace. And we should be too." Neither of them said anything, so I continued. "Things like this are going to happen, and we can't let it get us down. We've got to keep going. We're going to be the best, remember? If we sit here and sulk forever, we'll be wasting all our efforts. All the efforts that they put into bringing us this far."

Tyler sighed, nodding reluctantly. He knew I was right. Keith didn't outright agree, but I knew he was listening to me. I stroked the side of his head and evoked a depressed sigh from him.

I smiled. "Now we've got a ship to catch. The _Anne_ will be anchored up at Vermilion until evening, and there'll be dozens of trainers onboard with energy to spare and money to blow off. So let's put our chins up, get through this, and make some pampered rich brats cry. Sound like a deal?"

Tyler laughed at my analogy and nodded, pumping two coiled vines like fists. Keith let out a buzz and sighed, looking up at me with his mandibles arranged in what guessed equaled to a smile and replied, "Drill." I could tell he was still a little sad, but he wanted to get past this too. There was no point in sitting around and moping forever. We had to move on.

I held nothing but admiration for their strength and faith in me, and I could already feel my own spirits on the rise as well. "That's what I like to hear. Now come on, let's go pick on some rich kids."

We packed up after that, staying only long enough for me to split my earnings from the day prior and to spend the rest on a few extra Potions - a meager amount, but better than nothing - before going around the edge of the town to see if we couldn't find a way out. There was a lot of trees and fencing all around, so I focused on whether or not we could find an easy way out or if we had to claw through the shrubs and poison ivy. I had just started forward to see if I couldn't sneak past a house to make it to the side path when I heard the sound of shattering glass. I stopped to try and figure out where it came from when I realized one of the house's windows was busted and that a man in black was sprinting away from the place he'd obviously just broken into.

Black clothes, black hat, combat boots...I recognized the Rocket Grunt instantly and took off after him without thinking. "Hey!"

The man glanced over his shoulder, saw me coming at him, and just kept on running. He grabbed something off his belt and threw a pair of spheres behind him - pokeballs, I realized - sending out a Machop and a Drowzee to stall me while he made his escape.

I came to a stop to avoid the pokemon, who were taking up a battle stance, though I continued to glare after the cowardly grunt that left his pokemon for dead to save himself. That was twice now that I had to watch a Rocket get away at his pokemon's expence. The inexcusable selfishness filled me with an overwhelming feeling of disgust that left a bitter taste in my mouth. _Rocket scum._

The Machop and Drowzee didn't seem to realize they'd been left for dead, and if they did, they didn't seem to care, perfectly content with making a stand here and taking on whatever so their son of a bitch trainer could make a break for it. I didn't want to fight them, but I didn't have a choice but to release both Tyler and Keith from their pokeballs. "Keith, Twinneedle the Drowzee! Tyler, Razor Leaf on the Machop!"

The Drowzee barely had time to react before Keith was on it, landing twin-stinger blows in rapid succession and punching into the semi-hippo semi-whatever's leathery skin with his arms like harpoons. He didn't even need to land a second and third hit; the Psychic-type was knocked unconscious with the first pair of hits, bleeding out onto the dirt. The Machop had a bit more of a chance, but not much; it, too, barely had a chance to react before being pummeled by razor-sharp leaves that whipped by it, some slamming into it and shattering like glass, knocking it off its feet. It rose up and landed a shaky Karate Chop on Tyler's snout, who was all but completely unmoved. He Tackled it once and put the torn and bloody pokemon down for good.

I stood there, staring at the two pokemon, unsure of what to feel. I should have been satisfied with a victory, but...that wasn't a battle. That was an execution. Those poor things never stood a chance, and now they were both dead, thrown away like garbage rather than being slain like warriors...what could this be but a tragedy?

I gathered up the pokemons' discarded pokeballs, returning them both to them. I figured they ought to at least have a decent burial over just being left here to rot, but I realized only one of them were gray. The Drowsee was still alive. Relieved and saddened at the same time, I quickly returned to the Pokemon Center to get the poor thing some help for those twin holes in its chest from Keith's Twinneedle. I'd bury the Machop later.

The Drowzee went straight to the ER in critical condition. It had apparently been the one that helped the Rocket break into the house earlier, as the nurse came back to me and gave me a TM that it had been holding, the word "Dig" scribed into one side near the top. I figured it belonged to the owner of the house, so I made plans to return it...paused, then slipped it into a CD case in my bag that had originally been intended to store music discs. Hey, I was in need for a few extra good moves, and it was a dog-eat-dog world. My pokemon were fighting for their lives here. If I went by the house and saw the owner there, I'd give it back. If not, I'd just say I found it on the ground somewhere and walk away. I had my priorities.

The Drowzee was in the emergency room for about an hour and I accepted the pokeball containing it afterward, already decided on what to do. This pokemon belonged to a criminal who had thrown it away like garbage. I figured since no one was going to be looking for it and it didn't have anything of its own anyway, I would go out to the route where Drowzee could be found - a little asking around revealed that Route 11 was the only place in Kanto you could find one - and release it back into its natural habitat. Then it could possibly find a mate, have a life, basically do whatever the hell it wanted to. Anything beat dying for some scumbag that didn't even appreciate the sacrifice.

I set out from the Pokemon Center again, making a brief detour back to the foot of Mt. Moon to bury the Machop before going back the way I'd come and vaulting the short fence around the back of the house I'd seen burglarized, whose owner was nowhere to be found. Better for me: that meant I got to keep the TM. Well hey, it was going to get stolen anyway, right? And I figured since the owner didn't have the brains to use it or protect it better, I might as well put it to good use myself.

As for actually using it, none of my current team were compatible with the small electronic device, and since I needed to re-expand the team anyway to fill in the empty slots, I popped over one of the small ledges on Route 5 and dove into the tall grass, creeping around until I found a wild pokemon. Sure enough, it wasn't long before I nosed forward into a patch of clearing and saw it: a small, tan little Meowth that was batting around a discarded penny like it was the most fascinating toy in the world. It didn't see me right away, so I quietly reached into my bag, pulled out an empty pokeball, and subtly flicked it at the Meowth, who never saw it coming. It vanished in a flash of red light and the ball dropped to the ground, rattling back and forth the way it always did.

I know what you're thinking: healthy wild pokemon are harder to catch, and I could tell simply by watching how violently the pokeball was shaking. My brilliant strategy: I leaped out of the grass and dove forward, gripping the ball tightly between my hands and squeezing it for all I was worth, watching the red button glow angrily as the pokemon struggled against the ball and my grasp, vying for freedom. I don't know whether it made a difference or not, and I thought for sure it was going to pop open, but eventually it stopped shaking, and I laughed out loud - haha! I caught a pokemon without even battling first! "Booya!"

I did a little mini-victory dance before releasing the newly caught Meowth along with her new teammates. "Hello little Meowth, my name is Rein. _Your _name is Kayla. This is Tyler and Keith, and they'll be your teammates. Sound good?"

Still a little dazed, the Meowth warily nodded, watching me carefully with her slit-like amber eyes. I smiled and returned them, returning to the task at hand: heading to Vermilion. We had a ship to catch.

Apparently not, though. You'd think that in order to get to Vermilion City, I'd have to cut through Saffron, which was directly between me and the port town itself, right? Well, so did I. But that gatekeeper? Yeah, he had other plans. And those plans were to make my life miserable.

"So let me get this straight," I said incredulously, standing before the gatekeeper's desk. "You're not going to let me get to Saffron because...?"

The gatekeeper, who had his big smelly feet up on his desk in front of me, looked past his addition of _Swimsuits Weekly_ to glance at me, then shrugged. "I'm thirsty."

Yeah, that's what I _thought _he said. "...you gotta be kidding me."

The man replied, "Nope," and looked back into his magazines, oggling over the over-exposed women with unnaturally enlarged busts within its pages.

I huffed irritably, reaching into my pocket. "Look, if there's a toll, I don't have a lot, but I think I've got enough...50 pokebucks sounds about right, right?"

The man didn't even look up from his magazine. "No."

I sighed. "One hundred?"

"No."

"One fifty?"

"No."

"Two hundred?"

"No."

"Five hundred? Six hundred? A gold nugget? A Pidgey in a pear tree?"

"No."

I stomped my foot. "Goddammit, what's the toll?"

"There is no toll."

"Then let me in!"

"Nope."

"Why not?"

"I'm thirsty."

I was speechless...well, not entirely. I had a few words left in me (mostly curses) that I shared with the apparently _very_ thirsty guard and stormed back to Route 5, looking for an alternative route to Vermilion. I was about to start testing out my hitchhiking maneuvers when a passing lady informed me that the only other way to Vermilion without going all the way around was through the Underground Path, which was exactly what it sounded like: a path underground. It was long, dark, and smelled like must, but there was no snobbish gatekeeper that wouldn't let me through, and that was good enough for me. It's not exactly like we had a choice. Stupid guard...I hoped he got dehydrated and died in a desert somewhere. Asshole.

Ugh, what a walk. After staggering up out of the stairwell from the hellish darkness below, a kid practically knocked me over, shoving a malnutrition-induced Nidoran in my face like I was blind. "Hi! Do you have a blue Nidoran? Would you trade it for Mr. Nido?"

I examined the small rabbit's terrified face, then scowled at the kid. I hated people who traded their pokemon - especially the ones that would talk right in front of them like it didn't even matter. "No. I don't even have one."

The kid whined and pouted, leaving me free to walk away and savor the sweet, fresh air of the outside world once again. She was stupid, but at least she wasn't a Thirsty Guard.

Route 6 was short but rough. As it was the only other route that we could grab some action on the run, I stepped into some tall grass on the side of the road for some training for Kayla. I was also on the lookout for new pokemon, since I needed to expand the team, but all I found was a measly Bellsprout that looked ready to crumble into dust on its own. Despite this, it took several Scratches to take it down. That was my first hint that training Kayla was going to be a long, slow, painful process.

And boy was it ever, and not just because Kayla was under-leveled. I don't know what it was about that route, but it's short length had nothing on its sheer intensity. The wild pokemon were vigorous and determined, the trainers particularly annoying...ugh, those trainers! Tyler and Keith could take them out no problem, sure, but I was trying to train Kayla - a task that was becoming more and more daunting all the time. It wasn't even a three hundred yard walk from the Underground Tunnel to Vermilion City, and my team was tired out and my stock of Potions was dwindling. What a nightmare.

She was still fairly weak, so I wanted to give Kayla a selection of fairly weak pokemon to go against to counter out her inexperience. I saw a straw hat on what looked like a young boy's head, and I quickly sought him out. "Hey kid!"

The Bug Catcher looked up, sighing. "If you want to catch some pokemon, you might wanna go back to Vermilion. There aren't many Bug-types here."

I ignored that and gestured to Kayla, who came forward. "C'mon, you got pokemon?"

The Bug Catcher shrugged. "Well, one, but it's not really a fighter..."

"Don't care. Let's go!"

The kid sent out a Butterfree, which I thought was great. It wasn't a fighter, and it was a third-stage evolution, which equalled for a major payout for Kayla. I figured it'd be an easy win.

Well, it wasn't. Far from it, in fact. True, it wasn't a fighter, but what the kid failed to tell me: all the Butterfree knew were stat-inflicting moves. Not that big a deal, as I was about to discover it for myself soon enough...

I started things off by telling Kayla to Scratch, which she did, placing a trio of red marks across the insect's chest. It countered with Supersonic, which took effect immediately, causing Kayla to go cross-eyed and lose her balance, thudding to the ground. I tried to get her to focus, but her senses were completely shot, and the more thrashing she did, the more she hurt herself. So much for an easy win.

The kid looked more enthusiastic than he did before, possibly because he figured he had a chance. "Butterfree, Sleep Powder!"

I cursed under my breath. Kayla couldn't hope to dodge in her confused state, and the blue powder found her easily, knocking her out in seconds. I didn't have any Awakening, which meant Kayla was pretty much done fighting.

I returned my Meowth and sent out Tyler in her place. "Tyler, let's wrap this up. Leech Seed!"

Tyler bent forward to shoot out a flurry of seeds at the Butterfree, who merely fluttered upward out of the move's range. It rubbed its feelers together rapidly to produce a sharp, annoying noise that equalled out to Supersonic, the effects of which took hold on Tyler instantly. My Ivysaur took on a similar cross-eyed look as Kayla and nearly nose-dived into the ground as his legs tangled together.

The Bug Catchered snickered. "Hehe...Poison Powder!"

The Butterfree flapped its wings, scattering purple powder across Tyler's body uselessly. I arched an eyebrow. "Uh, Poison-type?"

The kid stared at me blankly. "...crap."

Idiot. "C'mon, Tyler, snap out of it! Tackle!"

Totally disoriented, Tyler heard my voice and obeyed, charging at whatever looked most like the Butterfree at the time. Unfortunately, it was a tree. Ouch.

"Sleep Powder!"

Son of a bitch. That was two pokemon I couldn't fight with. I growled under my breath and withdrew Tyler, sending out Keith as my only other alternative. "Goddammit. Keith, wipe the floor with this guy."

Easier said than done. Keith had replaced his regular Fury Attack with the more powerful Bug-type equivalent of Twinneedle, which boasted more super-effective possibilities but was also less effective against certain type combinations, like Bug and Flying. Therefore, the only other move he had to fight the Butterfree was his weakest: Poison Sting. Which wasn't necessarily a bad thing; Keith was good at rapid-firing weaker moves. It came with being a Beedrill.

The Butterfree tried to use Supersonic again, but it screwed up, unable to get the sound right, especially when it got stabbed with Keith's stinger. It tried Sleep Powder, but Keith merely flew around the cloud and resumed going killer bee on his butterfly cousin. It managed to get off a wave of Stun Spore before it was effectively poisoned, which pretty much ended the battle: Keith couldn't get a good hit in while stiff and rigid, and the Butterfree couldn't inflict other stats while he was paralyzed. It was just a matter of waiting for the poison to kick in from there.

I had a Paralyze Heal on hand, so I could fix Keith. Tyler and Kayla were a problem. I didn't have an Awakening, and while I could easily make it out of there with Keith, I had wanted to train Kayla while we were out here. That said, I couldn't exactly train her while she was comatose, which presented a new problem: how did I wake them up?

I got an idea when a kid we ran into sent out a Squirtle. I sent out Tyler, who would be the most resilient against Water attacks, even when he was asleep. He was pretty heavily out, but battles tended to be pretty active, and it wasn't long before his eyes popped open and the Squirtle took a volley of Razor Leaves to the face.

Of course, it was so simple: I'd just find a weak trainer and let their pokemon wake Kayla up for me. I don't know why I didn't think of that before!

There were plenty of Campers marching around in these parts, and I stopped a kid who was probably about to dive into a bush to make out with his girlfriend, requesting a battle. The kid agreed happily, though his girlfriend looked a bit peeved. Not my problem her boyfriend had ADD.

The Camper threw a pokeball out and sent out a purple Nidoran, which meant it was male. Nidoran were tenacious little things, but not particularly powerful. Exactly what I was looking for. The kid gave me a funny look when I sent out a sleeping Meowth but started the battle regardless. "Nidoran, use Peck!"

The Nidoran scuttled forward and poked Kayla in the forehead with its horn, causing her to flop limply onto her back like a rag doll. There was a welt on her forehead, but she continued to snore. I just stood by patiently and waited. It used Peck again, poking Kayla like it was checking if she was still alive. She was: just really, really sleepy. The kid glanced at me to see if I was going to counter, and when I didn't, he just shrugged and continued to order attacks. Kayla took them all and just sat there, a bit of drool escaping from the corner of her mouth. I unconsciously fingered the trigger of the Potion in my pocket as I waited.

I was really starting to get worried by this point. Kayla was really getting messed up, but she didn't stir, sleeping pleasantly with a placid look on her feline face. In the meantime, she was being stabbed, gored, poked, and jabbed repeatedly across her furry little body, blood starting to stain her fur where the skin broke. I was even beginning to worry maybe she _wouldn't_ wake up when her eyes randomly popped open just in time to be hit with a particularly vigorous Peck. "Meow!"

"Kayla!" I cried, relieved. "Kayla, quick: use Dig!"

Kayla swiped her claws across the ground, spontaneously summoning a hole that she dove down into. The Nidoran, who had been charging, was unable to stop in time and ended up stumbling into the hole after her, shooting out a second later as the move was used a little early. She climbed out of the hole again with a grin, face covered in dirt. "Meoooooowth..."

I was about to congratulate her for her awesome hit when the kid broke in: "Double Kick!"

Shit. "Kayla, move! Dodge!"

Kaylee tried to get out of the way, but she was tired and battered, and the Nidoran was coming straight at her, and there was nowhere for her to hide. The Nidoran jumped up, whirled around, and kicked Kayla in the head with both its feet, snapping her head to the side and, with it, her neck. She was dead before she hit the ground.

I screamed "Kayla!" and returned her instantly, sucking her up into her pokeball in a beam of light. I could do nothing but stare in horror at realization at what had happened as the pokeball faded slowly to a dull, lifeless gray. "Oh my god..."

The kid cheered...paused, eying my expression, enthusiasm waning. "...crap, is it dead?"

I didn't respond, just sent out Tyler and annihilated the Nidoran and sent it and its trainers sprawling out into the tall grass. Then him and his useless girlfriend could make out as long as they freaking wanted.

I had to bury another pokemon that day. I stared long and hard at the patch of dirt that Keith had dug up on the side of the road, fists clenched, eyes brimming over with tears and self-hate. I didn't have anyone else to blame for Kayla's death but myself, and I didn't even bother. I barely knew the pokemon, but she had been alive once upon a time, a life ahead of her before I found her and took it all away in a careless, thoughtless move. Goddammit, I _knew _Nidoran knew Double Kick. They all did. What had I been thinking? It was so stupid, sending an under-leveled pokemon out against an opponent with moves that could one-hit KO it...what was wrong with me? How could I hope to keep my team alive if I was going to be so thoughtless?

There was nothing to say anyway, as I hadn't known Kayla long enough to really get to know her. I just turned around and started to leave, staring straight ahead so I could avoid the gazes of my pokemon - gazes that I distantly hoped were hard, cold, and accusing. A vine around my hand and two scrawny, bladed arms around my neck discouraged this possibility and disappointed me, as well as amplifying the burn of guilt that was steadily growing in my chest. As I walked, I rethought everything - my career as a trainer, my competence, what was best for the pokemon that I was catching and taking away from their homes, only to kill them later. Harper, Linda, Ian, Kayla...my own stupidity killed them all. More dead than were currently alive. So many pokemon destroyed.

How could I be a trainer if I killed everything that I touched?

I arrived in Vermilion and stayed long enough to heal Tyler and Keith before I left without a word, continuing well past the dock and the PokeMart with its open doors coaxing me with its stock of medicine and impending spending sprees. The invitations were ignored. I couldn't just stop and go shopping. There was still something that I had to do.

I kept walking until Vermilion was behind me and Route 11 started to form, at which point I pulled out a pokeball that I hadn't touched this entire time and held the button down, as I'd seen in an instruction panel in a PokeMart once. The button blinked blue and let out a chime, at which point I tossed it out in front of me, summoning the Drowzee that I'd been keeping stashed away in a flash of blue light rather than the traditional red. It flew back to my hand and shrunk instantly, empty and ready to be reused again. I put it in my pocket and addressed the confused pokemon in front of me: "You're free."

The Drowzee seemed a bit dazed, as it tilted its head at me, trunk-like nose flopping ever so slightly to the side. "Drow..?"

"Free," I repeated, voice deadpan. "You don't belong to anyone anymore. Go have a life. Be your own...whatever you are. Just...go. Be free."

The Drowzee stopped looking confused and started to look at me with a wry expression, one eyebrow arched. After a second of just standing there, the yellow and brown Psychic-type opened its arms up, signifying the wilderness around it, holding its hands out in a "What?" gesture. "Drow, zee?"

I paused a moment, then shook my head. "I don't know...go find a mate somewhere. Have a life or...something. Just...just get out of here, alright? Your old trainer doesn't want you. He doesn't care anymore. Go have a life."

The Drowzee scoffed and retorted,_ "Zee _drow?" which I immediately knew meant _"What _life?"

I pinched the bridge of my nose impatiently. "I don't know, okay? Just go. There's nothing left for you here."

The Drowzee remained where it stood. It crossed its arms over its chest and eyed me expectantly, tapping its foot.

I got its intent after a moment, and I shook my head sternly. "...no. That's not how this is- no. Not me. I'm not going to-" I whipped out a pokeball - Keith's, specifically - and threatened to throw it out. "I'm serious: get out of here. You here me? Go!"

The Drowzee remained where it stood and continued to stare at me. I made a threatening movement at it, trying to get it to leave, but it didn't, merely snorting once and scratching its nose. "Drow."

I let out an explosive sigh, returning the ball to my belt - I wasn't so heartless as to sick Keith on it again, who had nearly killed it the first time. _"Please _leave. Will you just leave? Please?"

The Drowzee shook its head adamantly.

"You're not coming with me, you know. I'm serious, everything new to my team dies. I just lost my Meowth. Is that what you want? To die?"

The Drowzee snorted and replied, "Drow, zee." _Beats wandering around out here._

I groaned, knowing now more than ever that it wasn't going to back down. "I don't want to do this," I told it. "Okay? I don't want to catch you, cuz I'll try to train you, then I'll do something stupid again, and you'll end up dying because you'll be under-leveled and not trained enough and _everything _knows fucking Bite or something. So I'll just save us all a lot of trouble and leave you out here so you can-"

"Drowzee. Zee." _Shut the hell up and just catch me already; I'm not going to waste away out here._

Yep, this thing wasn't giving up. I was stuck, and I knew it. It'd probably hypnotize me into catching it if I didn't do so willingly; why it hadn't done so already was still a mystery. "...you really want to come with me, don't you?"

The Drowzee nodded, continuing to eye me expectantly.

I sighed, wiping my forehead free of my bangs as I averted my gaze. "...look, it's nothing personal, okay? It's just that I've lost a lot of pokemon, and I...I don't want to see anyone else getting hurt. Anyone else dying because of me is...no. I did enough of that already." I unconsciously reached down to touch the cold exterior of Harper's gray pokeball on my belt - a memento I had taken along to remind me of my responsibility to keep my friends alive, and what would happen should I fail. The pang of pain in my heart from its contact was refreshing and sobering at the same time. "If you join my team...I can't guarantee your safety. Is that really okay with you?"

The Drowzee stared hard at me and didn't move. It looked very expectant of me, like its mind was already made up: this _was _happening. My compliance was simply optional. Its jade eyes - an unusual color for a Drowzee, I imagined - were intense and unshakable.

It reminded me a lot of me, the way it stared at me, and a smile unconsciously worked its way over my lips. "You don't give up easy, huh?"

The Drowzee shook its head with a smirk with a smirk. "Drow." I could practically hear it saying in my own voice, _"Hell no."_

That was pretty much it, then. If I was dealing with a pokemon-version of me, I might as well throw in the towel: there was no way I'd win. We'd be at this standoff for weeks until one of us gave in, which I was ready to. Maybe she belonged on the team after all. "Heh...alright, I'll give you a chance. Just know that it's your fault if you end up dying, alright? It's all on you." A lie, of course: no matter what I said, it'd still be my fault if anything happened to it. That responsibility came with being a trainer, no matter what happened._  
><em>

The Drowzee nodded with a confident smirk, glowing with its victory. "Drowzee."

"Alright," I said, pulling out her old pokeball and enlarging it, priming it for capture. "Let's do this, then. Go, pokeball!"

The red and white sphere went flying, and the Drowzee reached up to catch it as it came straight at her, splitting open and sucking her up the instant it touched her hand. It jerked and wiggled minimally in place before the central button stopped glowing and it let out a chime in record time. The Drowzee was mine, and with her came another life to look after - another responsibility. Her life was on my hands now.

But I already knew that - we both did. We were going to try our best to make this work, though. I called my newest pokemon out again and addressed her simply with, "Jade - for your eyes. Welcome to the team."

Jade nodded and smiled, reaching out her hand. I accepted it and gave it a shake, sealing the deal: Jade was one of us now, for better or for worse. Our fates were one.

And the first thing we did (right after a stop to the PokeMart, of course): head out to the dock and flash Bill's ticket to the meaty sailor standing guard, who was looking incredibly out of place beside the flashy luxury cruiser. The man gave me a funny look, considering my name definitely wasn't Bill, but he just shrugged it off and waved us along, granting us permission aboard. I hurried inside without hesitation.

I'll admit that I was a bit nervous when I started to wander the decks, as I had no idea what I should be doing now that I was here. I had my pokemon all out for a little extra security, which seemed to be all I needed: a party had apparently just ended for the people aboard, and everyone with a pokemon was still rearing and ready for some action. Seeing as I was new aboard, they took advantage of the new face by challenging me to a pokemon battle the instant they saw me. Not having to worry about the foreplay, I felt my confidence skyrocket as my element returned and the orders started to fly. No one could stop me now: I was in the zone.

Turns out that I didn't have a whole lot to worry about. The first kid that stopped me was some snobbish girl with too-fancy clothes and an ego the size of Mt. Moon to dramatize the miniature stature of her scrawny little Nidoran, whom I had a particular disliking for due to recent experiences. Seeing as she was Psychic-type, I send out Jade to deal with them, which she did with aplomb: two or three Confusions later, and the Lass collected her battered and unconscious Nidoran to fetch her brother, who she declared would "make me pay." He came out with a male Nidoran of his own - my decided least-favorite kind - and a Rattata to avenge his bratty sister. Keith made short work of the Rattata right after Jade decimated the Nidoran and got a free level out of the ordeal.

After sorting out the initial crowd of spunky kids wandering the halls, I proceeded to go door to door to the various cabins located throughout the _S.S. Anne's _massive decks, all of whom were either empty, occupied by one or two old people, or barely contained a family of rich kids with spunky pokemon. Most of them were Nidoran, oddly enough, and while they all insisted they traveled all over the world to get them, they looked no different - nor were they any more powerful than - any Nidoran you could find out in the grass somewhere outside of Vermilion. Jade dealt with them accordingly and quickly earned her own share of experience from sending the Poison-types flying with telekinetic energy.

There were several Rattata that sported Bite as well, which initially freaked me out, but Jade's Special Defense was even higher than that of Tyler, my heavyweight and starter, and she could take the blows and fangs without even slowing down. More type-neutral moves were a problem, but her HP was generally high enough that she could take some abuse without really starting to feel it and give me time to switch her out for someone more suited for the fight. With her teammates at her aid, it wasn't long before Jade was at the same level as Keith, who had two evolutions and a newly acquired move on his side. I found a Brick Break lying around on the ground, and while I had lost Dig to Kayla, I made good use of the abandoned TM by setting it on Keith's head and letting the little disc work its magic. One humming noise and a few seconds later, and I flicked the useless device over my shoulder. A few one-hit KO's proved that Brick Break plus Keith's massive Attack equaled bad news for Rattata, or pretty much anything in general.

Then, of course, I made _not _so good use of another TM I found someone trying to sell. We bartered for a while before we decided to battle it out, which resulted in me earning a free TM. The label read "Rest," and I decided to test a theory of mine as I turned to Jade. "Hey Jade, your ability is Insomnia, right? You can't sleep?"

The Drowzee nodded in confirmation, eying the little CD curiously.

I nodded thoughtfully. "Hmm...well, this move will make your sleep and restore your health. I figure since you can't sleep, maybe this move will restore your health, then wake you up because of your ability."

Jade nodded thoughtfully, responding, "Drow," with a hopeful expression. If this worked, it'd be a free full recovery. This could be a big advantage.

Unfortunately, my hunch didn't work out. Jade tried the move out, closed her eyes, then opened them back up again, health completely unchanged. It didn't do a thing. So there went one of her four usable moves plus a TM I could have possibly used elsewhere, or at least sold. "Dammit."

Oh well. Back to picking on rich folk.

As soon as Jade was up to specs with the rest of the team, the three of them took turns cycling out for one another, exchanging various Razor Leaves, Brick Breaks, and Confusions and the occasional Hypnosis and Leech Seed to totally own anyone that was foolish enough to answer their door and accept my challenge. The money was _really _adding up, since it was a tradition to offer a certain percentage of however much money the loser was carrying at the time, and since they were all rich, I was earning a few thousands of pokebucks at a time with every battle. It was practically raining money by the time we ran out of cabins on the last deck. My pockets were going to explode! I was actually worried I might have to disembark just to store it all away!

Several hours had passed since we first entered the ship, and my team, while tired, was ready to find the captain. A ship full of trainers was likely captained by a man with pokemon himself, right? So why not find him and challenge him so we could say we beat the entire goddamn ship into submission until it limped away from the port trailing smoke? It sounded like a great idea. Then we could party like it was 1999 for the sheer amount of awesome that we had accumulated and the money we had pouring out of our ears. Huzzah for a great day of battling!

Just as my team and I turned the corner to head to the captain's cabin, however, I ran face-first into no one else than Geki fucking Oak. My eyes widened for a split second of surprise - I hadn't expected to run into the son of a bitch so soon - before they narrowed into tiny slits of scorn and hate. _"You."_

"You!" Geki exclaimed, taking a full step back to make room for the finger he stabbed at me. "You bitch, your crazy Beedrill wrecked my ride! You owe me a car!"

I reached up to place a hand lightly on the side of Keith's head, whose red eyes were blazing hot enough to burn a hole through the bottom of the ship and drown everyone. "You should be glad it wasn't your face," I informed him, standing firm with my hands on my hips. "Now what the hell are you doing here? Granted you fit right in with this boat full of rich snobs and pretty-boys, but still."

Geki snorted, flicking his hair with his hand - a habit I wanted to strangle out of him. _"I _came to see the captain," he retorted, as if nothing could be more obvious. "He's just some seasick old fart, but I managed to get an HM off of him: Cut." He brandished a shiny CD out of his pocket, which looked more expensive and premium than the regular TM's I'd been finding as of late. He stuffed it back into his pocket and glared at me accusingly, like I was out of place. "And what are _you _doing here? You're hardly the social type, so they never would have invited you. You'd have to be VIP'd."

I clenched my fists and resisted the urge to plant one in his gut. "I came for the trainers," I informed him. "They're no challenge for me, and I could always use the money."

Geki shook his head with a sigh, like he had it all figured out. "Always about the money..."

"To send home for my mother!" I snapped indignantly. "And who are _you _to judge _me? _You and your fancy uniforms and shiny hotrods and flipping around your fucking hair like you just got out of the salon!"

"Whatever." Geki brushed me off smugly, waving his hand...not before he flipped his hair again, of course. Prick. "I've got better things to do than waste my time with you, and I don't intend to leave Kanto anyway, so if you'll be so kind as to step out of my way..." He moved to step past me, but I stepped in front of him, giving him a hard shove backwards. "What the hell?"

"Shut up," I snapped - Tyler and Keith hissed something in their own tongues in unison. Jade was new to the team, but she was smart enough to know that this guy was no good. "You killed my pokemon, you son of a bitch, and it's time you answer for that. For what you did to Linda and Ian- " I stabbed my finger at him accusingly. "-you'll get yours! Right here, right now!"

Tyler bared his teeth with a snarl, leaves arching up and ready to unleash a volley of razor-sharp leaves. Keith opened his mandibles to let out a war-cry, vaulting over my shoulder and taking a battle stance with thrashing, buzzing wings. While she had nothing against Geki personally, Jade stood by my side with arms at the ready, charging a Confusion blast.

Geki's pokerface faltered for a glorious moment of insecurity before he sneered, pulling out a pokeball - a Pidgeotto spawned before him a second later. "Can't take a close win and be good with it, eh? Alright, let's try this again. This time, I won't go easy on you. Pidgeotto, Quick Attack!"

The haughty bird became a blur, and I responded quickly: "Confusion!"

Jade caught the Pidgeotto in mid-flight and brought it to a total stop instantly, the shift in momentum against her telekinetic energy enough to nearly knock her off her feet. She teetered on one foot before gravity came back into effect and she forced the energy field back, throwing the Pidgeotto across the hallway. It dug its talons into the woodwork and scrambled upright, flapping its wings violently. The Gust hit Jade head-on and forced her back a step, throwing her off balance so the ensuring Quick Attack knocked her onto the ground. She, in turn, scrambled to her feet, holding her side but still ready to continue. Both pokemon were roughed up but still up to the challenge.

Geki snorted, apparently unsatisfied. "Tch...finish with Quick Attack!"

"Confusion from behind!"

Jade moved an instant before the Pidgeotto became a blur, taking a clip of its wings but generally unharmed. She then whirled around and shoved an armful of air away from herself, launching a wall of telekinetic energy that propelled the Pidgeotto along as it tried to stop. It failed, of course, and continued along until it smashed into the wall, which was made of metal. It slid to the floor, out cold.

"Nice work, Jade!" I cheered. "That was awesome! C'mon back!"

Jade smiled wearily, limping back to my side, where she accepted a spray from a Super Potion. Keith, brimming over with anger and adrenaline, leaped forward to meet the next challenger. I didn't protest.

Geki just scoffed and returned his Pidgeotto, muttering to himself as he picked his next pokemon. "Poison-type...so I'll pick Kadabra! Go, Psybeam attack!"

"Twinneedle!"

Keith dropped abruptly to the ground, letting the multi-colored beam breaze past his head as he charged forward, leaped into the air, and landed a two-bladed blow straight into the Kadabra's chest. Two holes materialized in each of its shoulders, and it crumpled to the ground in agony, arms incapacitated and leaking streams of blood. Keith screeched in anger, antagonizing the fallen pokemon before it was recalled in a flash of red. I guessed it wasn't the only red Keith was seeing.

_Now_ Geki looked worried. He gulped and resumed his haughty pokerface, scowling as he sent out a twitching, psycotic-looking Raticate. "Super Fang!"

"Brick Break!"

Pumping fire through his veins with hate in his eyes, revenge within reach, I'm not surprised Keith devastated the unfortunate rodent. He leaped up, using his gift of flight to avoid the snapping fangs, then slammed his arm-lances down on the Raticate's head, flooring it instantly. But he didn't stop there: he shoved it onto its back, latched onto its middle, and unleashed The Twinneedle Volley from Hell into the dazed pokemon underneath him. His volley ended and was replaced with another, then another, then another, blow after blow after blow landing again and again, stabbing the living daylights out of the victim of his rage. His red eyes were balls of hellfire, every stab with his arm-lances sending blood flying and speckling the walls, no sign of stopping in sight, even as his victim screamed in agony and terror. By the time Geki finally recalled his pokemon before it coulf become furry paste, Keith continued to stab where his target had been, gouging holes into the bloodied floorboards before screeching in frenzied rage, demanding more prey - more hurt, more revenge, more pokemon. More. _More._ He was visibly trembling across every inch of his body, green venom dripping out of the end of his stinger, skin glowing a faint red - I couldn't tell if that was Focus Energy or because he was just so pissed off. I'd believe either.

Even if that was _fucking awesome,_ I returned Keith to his pokeball, more for Geki's sake than anyone. I wouldn't be able to extract my full vengeance if he wasn't alive to see it.

A droplet of sweat running down his forehead, screwed but too cocky to admit it, Geki laughed - a clearly fake one. "Not bad; I guess you did some training after all. Oh well, not like it'll matter in a second...Charmeleon, go!"

A red lizard appeared before us, visibly larger and clearly more developed than it had been before, and even more relentless. The Charmeleon eyed the blood on the devastated floor with mild interest, the spat an ember into the largest puddle, making it sizzle and stink of iron. The reptile's serpant eyes then drifted up, fangs bared in a smile as it found its opponent and chortled deeply, "Meleon."

Tyler stepped up cooly, not responding to the pokemon's taunts and challenges as they started to circle one another, crimson eyes as hard and cold as the metal walls that surrounded them. Charmeleon stood as a menacing figure of fiery anger and vengeance. Tyler was the polar opposite: frosty as a northern wind, gaze sharp and condemning. The hate in their eyes was obvious.

This was going to be good. "Tyler, Leech Seed and Poison Powder!"

"Burn it to dust!"

Both rivals collided, and the battle began.

The fight was intense. Charmeleon demonstrated its agility by pressing itself parallel with the floor, skating forward on the blood puddles and gouging a trio of slash marks across Tyler's snout. Tyler bellowed in pain even as he slammed head-first into the red lizard, spouting toxic spores out of his bulb into the larger reptile's face. The Charmeleon took a mouthful, then sneezed out an Ember, engulfing them both in flames. Both held onto one another as the Poison Powder cloud exploded in a cloud of rolling fire, even as they both suffered burns across both of their bodies. They grappled tightly onto one another in a mix of cracking vines and slashing claws, dealing out damage whenever they could just to hurt the other. All they wanted was to inflict pain - Charmeleon on his enemy, Tyler on the creature that had murdered his friends. He'd take any number of wounds it took to deliver his payback.

I pulled a cheap move and returned Tyler in a flash of light, calling him back out a split second later to apply a Super Potion on his demanding injuries. Geki called bullshit on my tactics with noted enthusiasm, and I informed him of how little I cared with my comment of, "Go fuck yourself!" before Tyler unleashed a wave of Razor Leaf at the charging Charmeleon, who attempted to swipe the projectiles out of the air with its claws. It was unable to avoid the Leech Seed volley that ensured.

Tyler's moves weren't particularly effective against the vigorous Fire-type, but the combined poison, Leech Seed, and Tackling combo was too much for the opposing brute to handle. It staggered forward a step, collapsed to its knees, then flopped forward, still reaching for Tyler in the hopes of inflicting just a little more damage. Tyler merely extended his vines and wrapped them around the Charmeleon's neck, the ends of which pressed down sharply on key pressure points located on said area. The Charmeleon's claws wrapped around his vines a split second before its head thumped onto the scorched floorboards, limp and unconscious.

The sight of my lean, burn-covered Ivysaur standing over a theoretically superior Charmeleon filled me with pride, causing me to smirk. "You alright, Ty?"

Tyler looked back at me, crimson eyes gleaming, and replied, "Ivy, saur." _Of course I'm alright: we won._

Three against four, victorious despite the type disadvantages, new team member and all. My team officially owned.

Clearly devastated against the sound thrashing, Geki flipped his hair back and returned his Charmeleon, scowling to the side. "Tch...yeah, well, we got ten minutes to get off this thing before it leaves, so let's just call it even and-" He stopped abruptly as I cut him off - gave him a hard shove into the door of a cabin I found to be uninhabited earlier, pinning him against it. His eyes widened in alarm at my hostile stance yet pleasantly smiling face. "Wh-wha-"

Whatever he wanted to say was going to have to wait: I pulled back one arm, made a fist, and punched Geki right in the nose. Blood spurted out as it broke and he was sent sprawling onto the ground as the door behind him gave way and opened, granting him a spot on the floor to lay in a daze. It was the most satisfying sight and feeling I'd ever had.

It wasn't until after I'd pulled the Cut HM from his pocket and backed out of the room that Geki finally managed to sputter, "W-what are you doing?"

I smiled sweetly at him, then replied, "Calling it even."

His protests were cut off as I slammed shut the door, then backed up and ordered, "Confusion," as I pointed at the door handle. A victorious smirk grew on my face as the handle twisted more and more until it let out a _snap_ and failed to move further from its unnatural angle on the door. No one would be opening it for a while.

I threw my arm around my Drowzee's shoulder, released my Beedrill to let him latch onto my back, and took my Ivysaur's vine up in my hand as we walked away. We walked back to the mid-deck, satisfaction in our hearts, smiles on our faces. We ignored the cries for help that rang out behind us until we heard them no more and left the _S.S. Anne_ behind.

The ship started to crawl away from the pier as people waved goodbye, cheering fond fairwells from the port. My family of three and I just smiled and walked away.

* * *

><p><strong><em>AN:<em>**

Revenge is a glorious thing, don't you agree? x3

Hehehe. Weeell, that settles that, then...I lost another team member today, but I gained a new one, and she looks like a keeper. Let's all give a warm welcome to Jade the Drowzee! Here's looking forward to a long, eventful friendship with my new Psychic friend. Cheers, Jade: it's good to have you aboard! ^^

I'm very satisfied with today's happenings. I need to get a move on with those badges, though - I still haven't gotten to Misty or Lt. Surge yet. Guess we know what tomorrow will comprise of, yes?

Happy training, all! :D

* * *

><p><strong><em>Team Roster <em>**

_Rein Green - Trainer_

_Tyler - Ivysaur - Level 26  
>Keith - Beedrill - Level 23<br>Jade - Drowzee - Level 22_

_Pokemon Lost (Today): 1  
>Kayla - Meowth - Level 16<em>

_Pokemon Lost (Total): 4_

_The adventure continues... _


	7. Chapter 7

_(Late review is late. D: DON'T KILL ME.)_

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><p><strong><em>Chapter 7: Rain and Thunder<em>**

* * *

><p>I didn't really sleep that great that night...which is slightly ironic, considering how satisfied I'd felt the other day. I was really starting to wrack up karma points, though, and it was beginning to show. Nights were starting to look rather unpleasant for me as a result. Ever since Linda and Ian, I'd been having nightmares...well, not nightmares, per se, but I still didn't sleep well. I couldn't remember anything that I'd dreamed about, but I do know that it was unpleasant, and every morning I woke up exhausted and with a headache from the nightly torment. Not fun times.<p>

Not that morning, though. Today I woke up like from a waking daydream, not quite tired but not exactly refreshed either. I didn't move right away, seeing as I had a Beedrill curled up all comfy-like on my chest, angular head under my chin with his arms folded in, all cozy and warm against me. Tyler laid where he usually did: right behind my head, propping my own upright slightly with his flank, serving as my pillow. Both of them had their eyes closed (or dim, in Keith's case) with peaceful looks on their faces, breathing quietly. Every exhale from Keith tickled against my neck; the steady rise and fall of Tyler's diaphragm threatened to put me to sleep again.

I was on the couch in the Vermilion Pokemon Center, tucked in a sleeping bag across the couch with my team like I always did. Several trainers were scattered around, leaning against the wall or laying on the floor, not brave (or stupid) enough to protest against the girl with the killer Beedrill for hogging the couch. That wasn't too unusual.

What _was _unusual was the low humming noise that I heard behind me, plus the waving yellow shape over my head...a hand? I followed the hand to its arm, then eventually farther up and onto the large yellow and brown body of Jade, who seemed to be just coming out of a trance of some kind. "...what was that?" I asked, rubbing my forehead. I felt a little strange...lighter, kind of. Like I'd been relieved of some weight I didn't know I'd been carrying.

Jade smiled down at me, one eye twitching slightly. She appeared to be holding back a grimace. "Drow."

I was initially confused, but my mind slowly started to chug to life as I considered what species she was. "Did you...eat my dream?"

Jade nodded, now allowing her disgusted look to show slightly, like there was something vile in her mouth she didn't want to throw up but still couldn't stand it.

I smiled sheepishly. "Didn't taste good, huh?"

Jade shook her head.

I chuckled, reaching up to pat her head. "Thanks."

Jade smiled and distanced herself from the discomfort - hey, I was the trainer that basically gave her purpose. It wasn't a surprise to see her doing me favors, but it was still nice to know she thought well enough about me that she'd alleviate my hard nights asleep at her own expense. It was actually rather touching.

It was still a bit early, so Jade and I just made a little small-talk while time crawled by and the sun rose, waiting for the nurse Chanseys to come by and start serving breakfast. It was a pretty one-sided conversation because of the language barrier, but I was starting to pick up on some of the more subtle cues and signals that came with a pokemon's customary speech pattern. It was kind of strange, and I can't really explain it, but I...well, I think I was really starting to understand them. Weird, considering how fake and non-sensible their language seemed, but it felt like I was starting to make a little sense out of it. They were just pieces of random name fragments and jibberish: it was starting to make sense. Like a genuine pokemon language.

...or maybe I was just slowly going crazy over time. Either way, it was a nice experience. I might as well have someone to talk to in my own insanity, right? Hate to get lonely.

Anyway, seeing as she did me a big favor in helping me sleep, I treated Jade and the guys to a tasty breakfast at a restaurant down by the harbor, reveling in the glorious feeling that came with having pockets stuffed with money and having the ability to buy whatever the fuck we wanted. I still divided my total earnings in half to send digitally, but the payout from that was still freaking enormous: over 15,000 pokebucks. The largest sum of money I'd ever had prior was about 6,000 or so, and that was enough to buy a small TV set, or maybe a cheap computer. 15,000 pokebucks was enough to get me a flatscreen TV, or maybe a really shitty car - or, in this case, a good breakfast at a decent seaside restaurant and all the medical supplies my team could ever need. That run off of the _Anne _had pretty much made us for...hell, a good week? Maybe less? Not bad for a single day's earnings. Mom was probably freaking out by now, reading the amount I sent over...

Speaking of whom, I called my mom after I'd finished eating my hash browns and pancakes, telling her all about the events of the day prior (minus the thing with Geki, of course). As I did so, I watched my pokemon eating with curious amusement, noting the various styles they all chose to down what was to them, compared to the kibble and wild berries and what-have-you they'd been eating, a meal fit for a king.

Tyler used his vines with pinpoint-precision and remarkable dexterity, handling silverware like a gentleman and eating like he was the most well-mannered individual in the world. As a complete counter, Jade just shoveled food into her mouth, regarding the silverware by her plate as nothing more than obstacles to push aside, stuffing her cheeks with scrambled eggs and french toast and not caring how big a mess she made. Keith was completely helpless in the grasper department and thus sat in my lap, relying on me for assistance in eating without making a mess. It kind of felt like feeding a toddler, or a child that didn't know how to feet itself. The feeling of his mandibles sliding and clicking around my fingers made me smile and occasionally giggle from the curious sensation. It's funny how something as simple as watching pokemon eat could be so fascinating - their feeding habits were almost as diverse as their anatomies.

I realized that I had drifted off in mid-conversation, feeding Keith another piece of bacon as I continued. "So anyway, the gang and I are going to head up to Cerulean next," I explained, gesturing in the air with my fork. "I figure Tyler can completely waste the pokemon there, since it's an all-water gym, and come Vermilion with the Thunder Bade, everyone's really high Special Defense will come in handy. I hate to make Tyler do all the work, so I'll leave that to Keith and Jade to practice their tag-team work." I moved the speaker away from my mouth for a moment to address my team. "That sound fair, you guys? Tyler for Cerulean, you two for here?"

Tyler chuckled, saying something along the lines of "oh yeah" and "they're gonna get it" as he continued navigating his silverware using his vines. Keith nodded with a positive buzzing noise, wings tickling my stomach as he leaned back into my chest to look up at me - I popped a piece of bacon into his mouth, watching his mandibles work in unison and disassemble the meat slice like a wood chipper. Jade just gave me a thumbs-up as she stuffed her face.

"It's good to hear you so enthusiastic, honey," my mom said, sounding as chipper as ever. "You seemed kind of down yesterday, so I was a little worried about that."

"Ah," I said, nodding sagely. "Your mother-senses were tingling."

"Something like that, yep." My mother giggled, then dropped her tone a little to show concern. "You want to talk about it?"

"It's not really important," I replied, offering Keith a sausage. The meat link spontaneously disappeared from between my fingers, a bizarre tongue licking clean my fingers and making me laugh. "It's not a big deal now. We were sad yesterday, we're not now, and we're moving on. We've got shit to do and plenty more to prepare for after that, and work ain't gonna do itself. We just gotta keep plugging along."

I heard my mother sigh from the other end, almost sounding wistful. "You've grown up a lot," she said. "It hasn't been that long since you left home, and I can already tell you're changing. You've gotten a lot stronger as a person, Rein."

I found myself smiling warmly - I was accustomed to saying my team was getting stronger, but I never put a whole lot of thought into how I was doing. I was usually too focused on them to do much else but watch. "You think so?"

"I do. You're doing a lot of good these days, and I just want you to know that I'm very proud of you, honey. I'm glad to see you finally found your calling. You made this mother very happy."

If I wasn't smiling before, I was outright beaming now, face heating up from pride and flattery. "Heh...thanks, mom. It means a lot." It was about then, however, that I caught the look of a nearby man seated at another table, then proceeding to glance around and see the other looks mirroring his. "...geez, I just noticed I'm a real spectacle over here. Everybody's staring when they think I'm not looking."

"I imagine so!" my mother laughed. "It's not everyday you see someone taking pokemon out to eat like regular people. You don't even see people walking around with more than one pokemon these days - it usually means you're looking for a fight."

I chuckled as I leaned back in my chair, placing my feet up on the table. "Well, you never know: we're so tough, I figure we can take on anyoaaaaaa-!"

A trio of laughter broke out as my chair tipped all the way back and crashed to the ground, bringing me and my silverware and phone along with me. Tyler managed to contain himself to light sniggers, reaching his vines under the table to pull my chair back up. Jade made no attempt to hide her amusement, slapping her hands against the table as she leaned back in laughter, further disorganizing her eating space. Keith flew a few feet over the table, doubled over in midair as he laughed down at me.

I didn't doubt for second who the perpetrator was, and my glare was aimed straight up at the narf of an insect I'd been hand-feeding just a moment ago. "Gonna play like that, huh?" I growled, jumping to my feet. "So this is the thanks I get for eating out! C'mon down here, Keith, I'm gonna kick your ass!"

Keith continued to laugh, encouraging me as I jumped up on a chair to try and grab him, only to come an inch too short as he taunted my lack of flight. Another near-fall from _that_ chair sent all four of us into hysterics, and we all laughed and made such a scene that the manager came down and politely asked us to keep it down or we had to leave. I left a big tip for the waiter when we left for the mess and the fuss.

We'd needed that little outing, and not just for the good food. It'd been a long time since my team'd had a such a close, familial moment together. It was the stuff of memories.

The morning was great. It was a perfect tone to set for a full day of work and battling.

We set out from Vermilion around noon in high spirits, sticking to the main path so we didn't have to deal with the wildlife; I already turned down a chance to catch another pokemon. The trainers all seemed to recognize me, as they kept their heads down and decided they'd rather nose around in the grass than try their luck again. Their fear amused me.

I tried the gate to cut through Saffron, but we ran into one of Thirsty Guard's clones, who also wouldn't let us pass due to a combination of general asshole-ry and extreme dehydration. Whatever, not a big deal - we just cut through the Underground Tunnel again. It was a long walk, but not an unpleasant one. Keith and Jade kept things from becoming boring with their antics as they goofed around, providing Tyler and I - the more civil of the four of us - enough amusement to make it through the long, dark tunnel with our smiles and good moods intact.

Once we left the Underground Tunnel, it was a straight walk up Route 5 up to Cerulean, where we jumped a fence and marched straight up to the gym with our chins held high. The way people cleared out to let us through pleased us greatly and really helped to set the mood as we entered the building.

The entire room was basically one giant pool room with walking platforms set up throughout it. Simple concept, right? Enough room for people to walk without getting in the way of the Water pokemon, who held the obvious territorial advantage. That alone would have been enough to make anyone else's life miserable. The Swimmer that jumped out of the water seemed to believe this applied to me as well...that is, before he had to go chasing after his Horsea and Shellder after Tyler sent them flying across the room, skipping over the water like stones on a lake.

I snickered and walked past him, petting Tyler's head. "Nice. Don't focus too much on style, though. A regular ass-kicking will do just fine."

Tyler grinned and nodded. "Saur."

We walked around on the platform like we owned the place, well aware of the gaze on us from across the room by the Gym Leader's throne. Right before we approached, a girl in a Camper's uniform jumped in front of us. "You're here to challenge the gym? Nope, I'll deal with you now - Misty won't have to be bothered. Right Goldeen?"

A little orange head with a horn bobbed out of the water beside her, blubbing in an overly-graceful voice, "Goldeen."

I just smirked and stepped back, letting Tyler take his place up front. "Yeah, we'll see. Get 'em, Ty."

The Camper didn't seem too worried; apparently she thought she could take me. "Goldeen, use-"

"Razor Leaf."

A storm of blade-like leaves swarmed through the air at high velocities, creating large splashes where they impacted the water. The Goldeen vanished under the water for a few seconds before it bobbed up to the surface, red starting to trickle into the water around it.

The girl swore and returned her pokemon, stepping quietly aside. Looks like Misty was going to have to be bothered after all.

Misty sat across her throne in a lofty position, looking at me as I stepped up with Tyler onto her platform. "A Grass-type in a Water gym," she said, sighing as if at an old exasperation. "How...typical."

I frowned at the swimsuit-clad gym leader. "Well, yeah. My starter was a Bulbasaur, so what do you expect? Grass beats Water."

Misty shrugged, running her fingers through her frizzy orange hair. "Yeah, I guess, but...well, Route 24 and 25 have Bellsprout and stuff, and...doesn't it seem cheap to you, kind of? Grabbing one and just grinding the hell out of it? Like getting a Diglett and going to Vermilion for a free badge."

I scratched the back of my head. Obviously this had happened a few times before and was feeling a little discouraged over it. "I take it you lose a lot?"

Misty nodded and sighed. "Lost my Horsea the other day."

I nodded slowly in understanding. "Sorry."

"Yeah...that and some guy stood me up when we agreed to meet at the cape...it was supposed to be a date."

"Ouch."

"Yeah." Misty stood now, smiling despite how tired she seemed. "But you don't want to hear my sob story. You came for the badge, right?"

I nodded, determination returning. "You bet. Tyler owns everything - especially Water-types. Right Ty?"

"Saur!"

"You got spunk," Misty observed, rising up out of her seat. A smirk crawled over her lips. "I like that. Let's see what you've got, kid. Go, Quint!"

A flash of light signified the arrival of a glossy Staryu, its five bronze arms flowing and limp, it's central gem rounded and glowing a deep red. _"Hya._

"Nice," I mused, watching the graceful little starfish before readying for battle. "You ready, Ty?"

Tyler chuckled and replied, "Vy, saur sa." _Girl, I was born ready._

"Alright, party time! Razor Leaf!"

"Rapid Spin-Swift combo!"

I liked Misty, but I thought for sure her Staryu would be an easy win. For an easy win, though, it sure put up one hell of a fight. Razor Leaf would have wasted it, hence why it didn't hold still long enough to get hit. Rapid Spin turned it into a flying buzz saw, limbs hard and rigid as it shot around in the air like the Frisbee from Hell, raining little explosive stars all over as it flew about. What started as a one-sided match became a genuine fight by the time it finally splashed into the water and Misty called a cease-fire so she could return it. I took advantage of the momentary hiatus to spritz Tyler up with a Potion; that Swift barrage left a bit of a mark.

"Alright, you beat Quint," Misty said, pulling out another pokeball. "Let's see how you handle Deka! Go get 'em!"

Quint meant five and Staryu had five points, then I guessed that Deka had ten points, which turned out to be the case. A gleaming purple Starmie appeared in a flash of light and spinning blades, its back-half made of what looked like a purple Staryu attached to its front-most half, which held its octangular central gem a myriad of colors flashed over its glassy surface like a spectrum, and its noodly limbs waved back and forth as its back-half spun, grooving coolly to some unheard rhythm that emanated within it. Its call sounded more like a blare of notes in a symphony than a battle cry.

What a cool, elegant pokemon. It almost made me feel bad that we had to pound it. Almost. "Leech Seed!"

"Down!"

Tyler leaned forward to shoot a flurry of sprouting seeds out at the Starmie, which dropped like a rock down into the water out of range. The seeds floated uselessly on the surface, potent little roots shriveling up in the chlorinated water.

As if that didn't complicate matters enough, now Misty was doing something - reaching back behind her throne to pull out a radio cassette player. She plugged a cord into the side of her chair, turned it on, and sighed as a classical rhythm - the theme from _The Nutcracker, _I realized - started to play from speakers all throughout the gym. She closed her eyes and hummed the tune under her breath, swaying lightly in place, arms twitching to movements that went in sync with the music.

Tyler and I exchanged bewildered glances. I was about to inquire what the hell was going on when the Starmie suddenly popped up out of the water with minimal splash, bottom star-tips wiggling. "There, use-!"

I didn't get to finish my command before the Starmie blasted Tyler in the face with a pulsating jet of Water Pulse and disappeared into the water a split second later. Tyler stumbled as he stood upright, shook his head, and growled. "Saur..."

I scratched my head, trying to figure out what was being done here before the Starmie reappeared again, hitting Tyler with another Water Pulse before it vanished under the water again, waving back and forth gracefully under the surface of the pool. There was a pause that lasted about three beats, at which point it shot back up again, bottom-most points wiggling forward and back to the trill of the music, spouting off a Water Pulse as it ducked under the water again and resumed flowing back and forth. Three more beats later and the process repeated, this time leaving Tyler confused and unable to hit the enemy if he tried.

Now I knew what was going on: it was doing one of those synchronized swimming routines all by itself. Evidently Misty had been in a few performances herself - her arms moved and swayed in unison with the music, mirroring her Starmie to a certain degree, eyes closed and lost in the music. An interesting tactic. It seemed to be working pretty well, because it was making our lives hell.

There was a momentary lull in the barrage of Water Pulses as the music took up a more ambient pace, which the Starmie responded to by doing little movements and maneuvers in the water. I took advantage of this by stuffing a Persim berry into his mouth, which snapped him out of it. "Okay, here's the plan," I said as soon as his eyes focused again. "It jumps up according to the beat. Follow the melody and time your attacks for when it jumps up - that's how we'll have to fight it. Stick with Razor Leaf for now. Got it?"

Tyler nodded, leaves arching up in preparation. Perfect timing, too, because the melody started over, which signified the beginning of the Starmie's guerrilla-style attacks. Tyler fell right in sync with it, however, jumping to the side to avoid the water stream that blasted past him, responding with a flurry of leaves. The projectiles splashed harmlessly into the water when they hit it, but the Starmie let out a squawking noise on its way down, indicating that at least two or three leaves had found their mark. Three more beats later, Tyler leaped aside and fired again, dodging the next Water Pulse and squawking again before vanishing underwater. It was kind of like watching a dance, really - incorporated movements, classical music...heck, this was more of a play than a gym battle.

Misty seemed lost in the music, but she was apparently in touch with reality enough to know that we'd caught on and were putting up a fight. Tyler was strong to begin with, and even if he only got one or two good hits in, every leaf left a large chink in the Starmie's solid armor, some of which had a little bit of red oozing out of them. Slowly, as the song continued, she stopped imagining herself in the dance routine and got back into the game, looking concerned. Suddenly her game plan wasn't working so well.

When a few Razor Leaves hit Deka enough to send a shower of tiny purple armor fragments pattering onto the platform at Misty's feet, the gym leader'd had enough. "Deka, go underwater and use Recover!"

The damaged Starmie popped up once more to chime an acknowledgment before dropping into the water like a rock, floating to the bottom with its gem pointed up. Once it was motionless, its entire body started to glow white, distantly resembling the process of evolution. I could visibly see spots where chunks had fallen off slowly start to regenerate.

Time to act fast. Tyler couldn't hit it underwater, and repeating that entire routine wasn't going to get us anywhere. Time to improvise.

Thinking on my feet, I leaned forward to look at the platform I was standing on. The pool was divided in half from where I stood on the walkway, giving the gym leader and her pokemon plenty of room to roam when the battles broke out. There were three filters on this half of the pool: one on the right, one on the left, and one under Misty's platform. They seemed to be the only source of natural water movement in an otherwise stagnant and tranquil body of water. If the other two were blocked, the water wouldn't have anywhere to go but to the other side of the pool...and if something contaminated it from my side, it would only be able to spread...

It was all just a hunch, but I had a plan. "Okay, Tyler," I announced, pointing to the water. "Use your vines to block the side filters completely, then spread Poison Powder across the surface of the water so it can't surface. Let's go!"

Tyler replied, "Vy!" before snapping two vines out, whipping each to opposite ends of the pool to his left and right. Each of them coiled up and wedged themselves into the small squares the water was steadily trickling into, blocking the flow and disabling the minuscule currents they created, which would force the poison forward if it intended to be filtered. He then leaned forward and pumped out plumes of purple dust in glob-like clouds, which floated forward like a comet and landed neatly on the water, coloring a patch purple. He repeated this process, injecting toxins into the water while the Starmie stayed at the bottom and healed until the entire pool looked like purple food coloring. With the thick spores on top and the side filters blocked, the filtering process occurred slowly, if it even occurred at all.

After a while, the entire pool looked one big serving of purple cool-aid, toxic spores congesting the surface of the water and slowly, slowly starting to mix in and poison all the water. The glow of Recovery had since dimmed away, but the Starmie didn't surface, even when its cues in the music came. There was currently no way for it to surface without coming into contact with the toxic spores.

I grinned and rubbed my hands together, watching the water intently. "Alright, Ty, we've got it cornered. When it comes up, give it a taste of its own medicine."

Tyler nodded and grunted in confirmation, retracting his vines since it didn't really matter now. The leaves on his flower arched upright, a collection of blades jutting out from underneath, gleaming and ready to slice some Starmie. The waiting game was back on our side.

And so for several tense minutes, Tyler and I stood by and waited for the poisons to take hold. Misty had since turned off her _Nutcracker _music and was now staring worriedly at the water, trying to see through the purple fog that had robbed the water of its transparency. She looked incredibly anxious but said nothing, now also waiting for the inevitable.

Eventually the inevitable took effect and the Starmie suddenly erupted out of the water, screeching a sharp note like a violin being tortured within an inch of its life, body covered completely in a thin film of poison-saturated water. Its cry was amplified as a volley of Razor Leaves slashed into it, gouging chunks out of its armor and returning it to its previously desecrated state. It charged forward to try and tackle Tyler, who countered by whipping out his vines and halting it in midair before bringing it down onto the platform face-first. There was the sound of shattering glass as its gem splintered, sending fragments of multi-colored gem fragments everywhere across the platform and around my feet. I laughed out loud, pumping a fist. "Way to go, Tyler!"

Tyler crowed "Ivy!", standing with one foot on the struggling Starmie's back, holding it down with his weight and his vines. The Starmie was letting out a mournful clinking noise now, struggling weakly and desperate to try and free itself. Tyler's grip was just too strong, however, and the poison was rapidly draining its stamina. It was still capable of combat, but unable to battle. It still had some fight left, though, which initially compelled me to push it until it couldn't anymore and end the battle the old fashioned way...

"Stop!" Misty cried frantically. "Please, that's enough! He can't fight anymore! Don't hurt him!"

I stood silently for a second, considering ending this, but my conscience got the better of me. "...alright, we beat it, Ty. Let it go."

Tyler nodded and said nothing, slowly retracting his vines, backing away warily in case the wounded starfish attempted to try anything. It did not, however, merely whimpering its chime-like call as Misty sprinted around the platform and onto the walkway, at her pokemon's side in record time. "Deka? Deka, are you okay?"

The Starmie's central gem was busted like a mirror, shattered on multiple planes, but the flickering red light within it and the small noises it let out were proof that it was hurt, but very much alive and, at the moment, in pain. I actually felt a pang of guilt from brutalizing the pokemon like that.

Misty only seemed relieved, muttering, "Thank God" and wiping her forehead with the back of her hand. She seemed emotional all of a sudden, as she turned away from me to hide her face, hand covering her eyes. "I'm sorry, I just- I just lost my Horsea, and I j-just got really worried that he'd...that I..."

I nodded slowly, knowing exactly what it was she was trying to convey - the fear of losing another teammate, of having the responsibility be on her shoulders. I knew it all too well. "Let's get Deka to the Pokemon Center," I said. "He should make it there, but you can use one of my Antidotes. I've got plenty."

Misty wiped her eyes and looked back to me with a smile. "Thank you."

Deka received a spritzing with a bitter-smelling Antidote before he was taken to the Pokemon Center, Jade using her telekinesis to carry him more easily so the Nurses could get to him right away. Quint and Tyler were taken in as well, not in critical condition but still in need of a little healing. I placed a hand on Misty's shoulder as she leaned against the counter, taking deep breaths to calm herself - it was obviously quite frightening to come that close to losing another of her pokemon in such rapid succession. God only knows it'd been hell for me - I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

"He'll be fine," I assured her. "The Nurses are kinda weird, but they're good at their job. Deka'll be back up and dancing around to annoying music in no time."

Misty stifled a laugh, running her bangs between her fingers. "You've lost pokemon too?"

I didn't respond directly, just kept my hand on Misty's shoulder.

"I thought so," she muttered, then let her head hand down as she released a pent-up sigh. "Winning isn't always winning, huh?"

I smiled and shook my head. "Guess not."

Misty and I talked a while in the waiting room - the adventures we'd had, some experiences we encountered, a couple of close calls that made us hold our breath until the other told how they got out of it...the pokemon we'd lost. As it turned out, Misty wasn't a stranger to loss, but she wasn't exactly an expert. Her favorite Goldeen died when she was little, then a few days ago when her Horsea got hit just a little too hard in a dreaded "Critical Hit." I lost twice as many within a much shorter timespan of each other.

"Four pokemon in three days," Misty muttered, shaking her head at the idea. "I can't even imagine what that would be like."

"Complete hell," I said, hugging Keith around the middle, head resting on his shoulder. His antennae would occasionally tickle my cheek whenever he moved. "I loved those guys. I knew them the shortest of anyone, and it'd been bad enough. If I lost Tyler or Keith or Jade, I..." I shook my head at the thought, trying to push it away. "I don't know what I'd do."

Keith let out a low buzz that felt more like a purr, placing his arms over mine. "Drilli bee."

I gave him a squeeze and kissed the side of his head. "I love you too, buddy."

"I've never seen anyone be so close to a Beedrill before," Misty said, a hint of admiration in her voice. "They're really hard to get close to, I hear. And it's their mating season! How'd you get him so friendly?"

I just smiled and shrugged. "Well, what can I say? I know how to pick 'em." Keith muttered something in his own language, which I responded to by flicking one of his antennae. "Even if he is a complete narf."

Misty smiled and sat back in her seat, sighing again. "Well, I just wanna thank you again for today...I think I really owe you for that. Deka, too. Oh!" she explained suddenly, pulling something out of her bag and handing it to me. "Here, before I forget: the Cascade Bade. I think you've more than earned it."

I accepted the tiny teardrop with a smile, looking it over admirably as I fastened it to the back of my trainer's ID. "Thanks. It was a good battle, even if you did take all the fun out of it."

"Ha ha, very funny. Maybe we can call it even with an incorporated dance contest."

"Get some heavy metal going on in that place and we'll see."

We both shared a laugh - not as gym leader and aspiring champion, but just two friends with our pokemon.

* * *

><p>It took a couple hours before Deka came back out of the ER. Tyler came back to me early on, but I stuck around to make sure Misty's Starmie was alright. After that was done, Misty and I exchanged numbers and bid farewell as I left Cerulean to visit the Underground Path again, skipping Saffron and the Thirsty Guard to make it down to Vermilion for the gym there.<p>

Vermilion's gym sat facing the sea, the only way to the door blocked by a tree that seemed hastily placed and intentionally put there to block my way. Fortunately, this is where the HM Cut (courtesy of Geki) came in handy: Tyler abandoned his old tactic of Tackle and replaced it with Cut, using a single Razor Leaf wedged on the end of one of his vines as a blade that made mincemeat of the unfortunate shrubbery, reducing the tree to oversized woodchips. The new move was definitely bound to come in handy in the future. It made a nice replacement for Tackle, too.

True to my word, I withdrew Tyler to give him a rest and let Keith and Jade take center stage - Jade led the way, as I figured her telekinesis would be useful to avoid making contact with gym trainers' enemies to ward off unwanted Static-shock. Keith remained up to bat in case Jade's somewhat mediocre Defense wasn't cutting it, as she couldn't take a whole lot of physical assault. On top of everything else, his presence was an extra security in its own right. I felt safer with him just being there.

Actually, Jade wiped the floor with the gym trainers; all they had were Voltorb and Magnemite. Everything was ineffective against Magnemite, so I just had Keith take care of those with his Brick Break - the move that perfectly displayed the raw power my Beedrill possessed. Other than that, Jade solo'd everything. That wasn't the problem.

The problem: this gym had a big electric gate that blocked off the gym leader's chamber. According to the trainers, there were two switches hidden somewhere that I had to get to open in. The catch was that they were hidden in garbage cans. _Full_ garbage cans. And I had to sift through everyone one of them to find them.

"This is fucking disgusting," I growled, flicking aside (what I hoped was) an old bananna peel. "This gym battle better be the easiest goddamn battle of my life, or so help me..."

Tyler grumbled in agreement, gruelingly sifting through a can's contents with his vines. Jade had telekinesis on her side, so she just lifted the trash up, looked inside, and put whatever she took out back in. Keith didn't have hands and thus wouldn't be very useful, so he just clung onto my back, peering past my shoulder with his mandibles arranged in a smirk I just wanted to deck him for. _Lucky bastard..._

It took us twenty minutes to find the first switch. The second was apparently hidden one can away, but when we looked, there was nothing but garbage. After a set amount of time, the gate reset, and the switch disappeared to somewhere else. "Are you fucking _kidding me?"_

Keith busted out into laughter at that. He shut up rather quickly when I grabbed him and dunked him into one of the stupid trash cans like a basketball. The laughter this provided bestowed all of us (except Keith) the motivation to keep looking until we finally found them both. By that time, though, we all stunk like garbage. We all needed a bath.

The drill sergeant-looking guy that awaited us looked as miserable as we did, though not because he'd been digging through garbage for an hour. He had an undeniably exhausted look about him, plus something else...something I couldn't put my finger on. You know that eerie feeling you get when you look at the face of a serial killer? That's kind of the feeling I got. Like he wasn't all there completely. He'd been in a war or two, so i'd heard, so that was probably why. His stare looked dead, and it kind of creeped me out a little bit. I knew I wasn't the only one who felt it, either: Keith was tense and bristly, requiring my touch at all times to keep him calm. Jade looked contemplative as she looked at the clearly weary man in combat uniform. I could see why they'd be nervous: a war veteran with that kind of look on his face was a rigged bomb ready to blow. One couldn't help but wonder if a defeat in battle wouldn't tip him over the edge...

He must have sensed my insecurity, as Keith wrapped his arms around my shoulders a little tighter. I placed my hand on his arm in thanks, sucking in a deep breath before approaching the unresponsive man. "Hey dude! Are you-"

The living statue that had been Lieutenant Surge suddenly sprung to life - his lifeless eyes suddenly burned with an internal flame that rivaled even that of the most ferocious Fire-types, and his voice was an enraged bellow, like I was a hundred meters away and had spat on the bible. "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, MAGGOT?"

I jerked backwards under the force of his audio assault, ears ringing from his voice - Jesus Christ, what a yell! Did he have a megaphone in his throat? "Whoa, hold on there-"

"DON'T YOU TELL ME TO HANG ON, MAGGOT!" the soldier bellowed, face red, looking like the Drill Sergeant from Hell. "THAT'S OUT OF LINE! YOU KIDS ARE ALL OUT OF LINE! KIDS THESE DAYS HAVE NO RESPECT- NO DISCIPLINE! NONE OF YOU LITTLE MAGGOTS WOULD EVER MAKE IT IN THE ARMY! YOU'RE ALL A BUNCH OF SPINELESS MAGGOTS!"

"Calm the fuck down, dude!" I yelled back, covering my ears - my voice was like a whisper compared to his. "What the hell is wrong with you? This isn't the army! I _know _I'd never make it in the army - that's why I'm not in it! It's just pokemon!"

Somehow, Surge seemed even angrier. "YOU DISRESPECTFUL MAGGOT, DON'T YOU TALK TO A COMMANDING OFFICER LIKE THAT! YOU DISRESPECT THIS NATION AND EVERYTHING IT STANDS FOR, YOU WORTHLESS PUNK! YOU'RE NOT IN THE FORCE, YOU'RE NOT PART OF A BATTLE- YOU'RE NOTHING! ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! I STEP ON DIRT BIGGER THAN YOU, BECAUSE DIRT KNOWS ITS PLACE! SOLDIERS KNOW THEIR PLACE- SOLDIERS KNOW HOW TO FIGHT AND WHAT TO FIGHT FOR! WHEN YOU KNOW WHAT TO FIGHT FOR, YOU'LL KNOW HOW TO LIVE! YOU'LL NEVER BE ANYTHING IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'LL GIVE YOUR LIFE FOR!"

I was pretty much done with listening to this guy scream at me, accusing me of the things he was, so I screeched right back: "You fucking moron, I came here to challenge you! That's what I'm here to fight for: pokemon! The friends I've made and lost! For my family! Becoming the best so none of our friends will ever die while I'm there to protect them! You think some stripes and a uniform make it so you know everything? You know _jack shit _if you think I'm just some punk out on a power trip, you psychedelic nazi!"

What I had to say must have pleased the lieutenant, because he grinned - a sickly grin that made a chill run up my spine. "You got guts, kid. Guts will get you places. BUT ALL I HEAR IS TALK! TALK IS WORTHLESS - JUST LIKE A MAGGOT! DON'T JUST TELL ME WHAT YOU STAND FOR: SHOW ME WHAT YOU'VE GOT!"

"Talk? Talk! All I hear is talk - big noises and loud talk! You're a goddamn hypocrite!" I stomped down my foot in anger - the pain shot up my leg, but I ignored it. I was too pissed off to give a fuck or do much else besides shriek, _"Fight me, you faggot!"_

So he did. His plan was simple: spam Sonicboom until the 20 HP added up and it took down my team. It didn't work, though, because two Confusions from Jade cut it short. She wasn't even on half power yet, so I kept her out when Surge sent out his Pikachu, who was looking particularly twitchy and ravenous for its species. Surge switched strategy and went on a trolling spree with Thunder Wave and Thundershock, spamming paralysis after paralysis and making moving an ordeal in itself. I tried to cure her when I could, but when I went through five Paralyze Heal after five turns, I gave up and hoped she could push through it. "C'mon, Jade - Confusion!"

Jade raised her stiff arms, visibly struggling as she forced a throbbing wave of energy out through her fingertips. The Pikachu stumbled backwards, then jumped back up, screeching its name as it launched out a wave of electricity parallel to the ground. She could barely move as it was, so she didn't even have a prayer of a chance of dodging the Shock Wave. The electricity further seized up her limbs, making it impossible for her to pick herself up off the ground.

I swore, looking to Keith over my shoulder. "It's no good, she can't move. Pound this guy, would you?"

Keith buzzed vigorously and vaulted over my shoulder, charging forward with an arm-lance raised over his head to karate-chop the Pikachu atop the head. The yellow rodent took the Brick Break to the skull and flopped back, out like a light. Easy peasy.

Lieutenant Surge growled - I'm not even kidding, he sounded like a freaking dog on a chain. "YOU LITTLE PUNK! I'LL SHOW YOU HOW TO RESPECT YOUR SUPERIORS WITH MY BRUTE FORCE - GO, RAICHU!"

The orange rodent materialized in a flash of light, as rigid as a board, eyes hard as nails. It looked like a robot - appropriate, then, that it responded like one when Surge ordered it to attack, pumping out a wave of electricity all around in a straight line.

Keith went to dodge, only to discover he couldn't hope to evade the un-missing move, screeching as the electricity coursed through him. It wasn't the paralyzing kind of electrical shock, though, so he was free to rush in like a berserker and smash the Raichu atop the head with his Brick Break. It wasn't quite a one-hit KO move, but a volley from his Twinneedle was enough to knock down the rodent, though not before it managed to squeak out a Thunder Wave. Not that it mattered; we won anyway.

The Raichu vanished in a flash of red light, and with it disappeared Surge's anger. His face collapsed into the same emotionless void it showed when I first walked in, completely dead on the inside like a switch had been flipped. He didn't say anything, just held out his hand, offering me a Shock Wave TM and the tiny Thunderbadge. I swiped both and skedaddled out of there - that guy was seriously freaking me out.

Brushing that off, it was time to party. To celebrate our monumental achievement, I treated the team to dinner and desert at a local restaurant - the same one we'd visited that morning, in fact. We all got delicious food and a mouth-watering plate of cheese cake to fill our stomachs after a great day of battling, then got to sit down on the edge of the dock to watch the sun set. The town's name was understandable: the shade of vermilion the sky turned was absolutely gorgeous_. _The sight of the sun gradually lowering down past a plane of smooth, endless water, dying the sky and water a brilliant tableau of reds and oranges and pinks...it was breath-taking. You haven't _lived _until you've seen a seaside sunset. It's literally the stuff of poetry.

I sat there on the smooth wood of the docks, shoeless feet dangling down, toes skimming over the surface of the salty blue water below me. I had one arm around one pokemon on either side of me - one around the rounded shoulders of Jade, the other over Tyler's back, scratching his ears - as my guardian Beedrill hung off my back, arms around my neck, head resting on my shoulder. His compound eyes tracked me at the same time they did the sunset, focusing on my face and the wondrous colors simultaneously.

Sitting there in the cool evening air, watching the prettiest sunset I'd ever seen with my precious friends, I could only sit there, sigh happily, and smile. Never before in my entire life had I ever felt more complete.

* * *

><p><strong><em>AN:<em>**

Woot! Chapter get! :D

Sorry that took so long: i've been screwing around with a few mods for the VisualBoy emulator (that is, a gameboy on the computer) and was trying a few Nuzlocke Challenges on them. The FireRed Omega I'm doing is kicking my ass. T.T But hey, at least I'm doing well here, yes?

Chapters may come slow, but I'm still on it. Never fear!

Thanks to my oh-so-lovely reviewers. I guess I shouldn't compound scarcity with brevity: the few of you I do have are awesome, so I won't complain.

Thanks for reading! Happy grinding, all! x3~

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><p><em>Rein Green - Trainer<em>

_Tyler - Ivysaur - Level 27_

_Keith - Beedrill - Level 23_

_Jade - Drowzee - Level 23_

_Pokemon Lost (Today): 0_

_The adventure continues... _


	8. Chapter 8

_(Overdue update is overdue. o_o)_

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><p><em><strong>Chapter 8: Rock and Tumble<strong>_

* * *

><p>Three badges down, five to go. Our journey was nearing its halfway mark. I think we were all feeling pretty excited about that.<p>

I got another half-decent night's sleep, once again crediting Jade's ability to eat dreams and her willingness to rid me of the unpleasant ones I'd been cursed with for a while. I felt a little guilty about it, really - they looked like they tasted terrible. I told her she didn't have to, but she just smiled and told me, "Drow," which I guessed meant "It's alright, I don't mind." I smiled appreciatively and pat her head in thanks.

We all took advantage of the Pokemon Center's showers - a luxury this Pokemon Center in particular possessed - to ease our knotted muscles and to wash off the grime and sweat that had been building up on us over the last few days, including that god-awful stench of garbage from Surge's gym. It then occurred to me how long it'd been since I'd last had a shower, plus how much I'd been through since then - brownish water went down the drain the entire time until I'd scrubbed every last inch of my body, then got to soak in the glorious warm water until I sucked it dry. Sweet, sweet warmth. I swore to Arceus I'd never take a hot shower for granted again.

My pokemon grabbed a shower, too - it was the funniest thing, when I stopped and thought about it. My mom was right: I really did treat my pokemon like they were actual people, and everyone else found it a bit odd. The fact that I kept them all out gave an impression that I was looking for a fight, hence why people tended to clear out when I approached unless they were trainers too. I seemed to hold my pokemon in higher esteem than as just playmates or pets or team members - they were my friends. Family, even, and they deserved a lot of things, at the very least included a hot shower. I saw too much humanity in them and loved them too much to stick them in a tub and scrub them like dogs or pets. They could handle that themselves. They certainly didn't seem to mind the extra freedom. Who would?

Then, of course, came the added amusement that went with watching people respond to these very much human-acting pokemon taking up the shower stalls. A passing man gave the Ivysaur that walked casually out of the bathroom with a towel on his head and bulb the strangest look, not to mention the expressions of the people in the woman's bathroom as Jade hummed to herself while patting herself dry with a levitating towel. Keith was busy in one stall trying to smell all the shampoos, the fragrances reminding him of flowers his past hive used to pollinate - an unfortunate girl shrieked in terror and ran for dear life from the giant killer bee she had stumbled upon in nothing but a towel. The four of us were in stitches for a good long while after that.

After breakfast and the usual antics that went on to make the meal more enjoyable, the gang and I left Vermilion and headed north, taking the winding path that made its way through the tall grass of the route. I remembered my previous obligations and called my mom to let her know what the plan was. "We've got the Cascade and Thunder badges, so we're going north again towards Cerulean," I told her, glancing around briefly. Keith had the lookout position and was keeping a close eye out for anything that might get in our way, so I didn't have to worry. Even so, I liked to know where my pokemon were. Not that they wandered far. "The north and south gates of Saffron are always cut off - no clue why - so we'll try the east gate. If we can get through there, we'll cut through Saffron and make it over to Celadon City for my fourth badge. Keith ought to dominate in that one. Right, buddy?"

Keith nodded his head with a, "Beedrill!" as he buzzed his wings, banging his arm-lances together with a metallic clash. I'd take that as a "yes."

My mom chuckled, having heard the noises and took them for what they were. "He certainly sounds eager enough. I bet he's a pretty fearsome fighter!"

"You bet he is," I confirmed, patting the side of Keith's head; the little purring buzz he emitted wasn't exactly "fearsome," but every brutal warrior ought to have a softer side. Y'know, for us gals. "I sure know _I_ wouldn't want to face off against him."

"And what about the rest of your team, hon? Have you expanded yet?"

"No, not yet. I tried to get a Diglett, but it was like a game of Whack-A-Mole. I think we'll just try our luck over by Rock Tunnel, see if we can't get anything in the grass around there."

"Rock Tunnel? Oh, I hear that's a bear to travel, even with guides. If I remember correctly, you had a bit of trouble with Mt. Moon, yes?"

"True. But not only have I stocked up on Super Potions, I've got a flashlight." I reached into my pocket and pulled out the handheld device, thumbing the switch absently. "We are _not_ getting lost in this cave too, y'here? We got enough of that last time. _Not_ fun."

Tyler and Keith shuddered and muttered in agreement. Jade didn't have to have past experiences to know getting lost wasn't a good idea.

"So anyway, we're set on that. I've gotta hang up now cuz we're coming up on the Underground Path, and the phone won't work underground. I'll call you after we're in Lavender Town, alright?"

"Alright. Stay safe, honey. I love you!"

"Bye, mom."

We hiked our way through the cavernous Underground Path - our dictated alternate path on account of mister Thirsty Guard - and climbed up the hill to Cerulean, where Tyler made wondrous use of the Cut HM we'd acquired to clear the way through the thick bushes. It was actually pretty clever how he did it: he took a single Razor Leaf from his bulb, fit it on the end of one of his vines, then started to hack and slash at the brush with the razor-sharp edge like a machete. We then went up through town so we could come around the side and cut through a little bit of shrubbery that stood between us and Route 9. There was one little patch of grass up on some ledges, but all I saw were a bunch of Spearow bobbing around, so I didn't bother. I hadn't had the best of luck with Spearow as of late. That, and they were kind of obnoxious.

The hike up the route wasn't so bad as far as random pokemon encounters because of how little grass there was. There were plenty of trainers, though - Bug Catchers trying to nab a Venonat or stray Metapod, Picnickers enjoying the outing and fresh air, Hikers looking to grab a battle before they tried to scale the mountain. They weren't much contest for us, considering most of them didn't even have their second badge yet. Kinda sad, really.

There was one Bug Catcher, though, who was really getting on my nerves. He was one of those kids who were a living personification of a yippy little kick-me mutt: loud, brazen, and not worth the effort. I tried to brush him off, but he came up around in front of me to cut me off, talking big and acting tough. He was just a munchgin, but apparently the fact that he was half my height didn't faze him, cuz he just kept talking...and talking...and talking...and _talking,_ trying to get a rise out of me, trying to get under my skin-

Clenching my fists, I abruptly stopped and snapped my head around to look at Keith: "One more word out of that guy and I'll let you Twinneedle his face out. Got it?"

Keith nodded eagerly, clacking his arm-lances together with noted enthusiasm. Rather than be intimidated, the Bug Catcher seemed indignant. "You think you're so tough because you have a Beedrill? Well, I have two, and they're _way_ better than yours!"

So that explained his arrogance, then. "Well geez, why didn't you say so?" I asked, turning to face him. "I can get away with kicking _their_ asses. You gonna battle or what?"

Judging by the kid's smirk, he must have been feeling pretty confident as he let his pokeball fly - one crack and a flash if light later, a second Beedrill was out hovering in front of him, looking exactly like mine, albeit somewhat smaller. "You're gonna regret that offer, lady. Beedrill, use-"

The kid never did get to finish his command. One yellow streak and a flash of an arm lance later, the opposing Beedrill was twitching on the ground, a massive gouge in its chest. Keith hovered just over it with a bored expression, smiling at the kid. "Drill bee?"

The kid seemed pretty stunned, so I elucidated for him: "He wants to know if you'll send out the other one for him."

Too shocked to answer, the Bug Catcher just threw out his only other remaining ball, summoning a second Beedrill identical to the first - without the gouge in its chest, of course. One blur and an aerial uppercut from Keith fixed that problem, however: now they were a bloody matching pair.

The kid was speechless. "H-h...how did...you..."

I shrugged and said, "Aerial Ace," standing still a moment so Keith could latch onto my back again, nuzzling his head against my neck. I smiled and rubbed his arm as I turned around and walked away. The Bug Catcher didn't let out a peep as I did so. Not that he needed to; we both knew my Beedrill dominated.

We continued to climb up Route 9, stopping occasionally to let Tyler swat aside some Hikers' Geodude or Jade to telekinetically send a Camper's Oddish or Bellsprout flying. Keith didn't have to intervene much, which I was fine with, although I would have liked him to pitch in some so he and Jade could stay even with Tyler, who seemed to be sucking up a lot of the experience these days. I was as fine with him being the heavyweight as he was, but I'd really like to keep an even team so we didn't run into any problems with training later on. I mentioned this to Tyler, who nodded and stepped down, letting Jade clear the way. Keith agreed to take the lead when we got into the cave.

The rugged terrain smoothed out after a while and stopped to make way for the Cerulean River near the end of the route. A lone Pokemon Center sat near the entrance to Rock Tunnel, providing travelers and their pokemon one last pit stop before they ventured out into the dark. It'd serve its use to us as well, but first I wanted to try my luck in the tall grass nearby; we'd been stuck at three on the team for long enough. Just as long as it wasn't a Spearow or a Poison-type, I'd be happy.

Luck seemed to be with me today, and as the first pokemon I saw rolled into sight, I grinned: Electric-type. I'd definitely need one of these. "Awesome. Jade, Confusion."

An invisible hand reached out and bitch-slapped the Voltorb, sending it rolling backwards towards the river. Rather than hesitate like a normal pokemon would, the Voltorb slowed to a stop and came flying back towards us, only to be held in place by Jade's telekinesis. It was a spunky little thing, that's for sure.

It seemed appropriate, so I dug around for a pokeball before chucking it at the Voltorb, who was sucked into the capsule in a flash of red. Two or three jerks later, the ball fell still, and I released the Voltorb so I could address it. "Hello there," I greeted, dropping to a knee to be closer to its eye level. "My name's Rein. Welcome to the team."

The Voltorb glowered up at me, expressionless face permanently contorted in a scowl. It replied, "Voltorb," in a synthetic voice, staring blankly at me like it couldn't even hear me. The left half of its face spasm'd once, and I realized how jerky and fidgety the robot-like pokemon was.

"Twitch," I decided, nodding to myself. "I'll call you Twitch."

The Voltorb didn't reply, just twitched again as it stared at me blankly, devoid of emotion or feeling. It was actually kinda creepy, but I didn't mind. At least, not too badly.

I wanted to grind Twitch after a stop to the Pokemon Center, but this was harder than it sounded. Despite being an Electric-type, Twitch didn't know any Electric-type moves. All he knew was Tackle, Screech, Sonicboom, and Charge, which made fighting _really_ annoying, especially since all the wild pokemon were Spearow that were practically begging to get zapped. Too bad he couldn't cuz he didn't know any, y'know, _Electric moves._ Ugh.

As much as I loved pummeling wildlife for hours, we had to get moving. That cave wasn't going to clear itself. After another brief stop to the Pokemon Center, it was off to Rock Tunnel...though not before thumping some kid who thought it'd be funny to jump the next person who decided to try to pass. Hehe.

The second we passed by the entrance of the cave, I could tell why it'd be dark: there was a ladder going down that we had to go through. That meant the rest of the cave would be underground - ergo, pitch-black. Absolute darkness that came with being under solid rock. Definitely a travel hazard. And I had my flashlight, not to mention the red glow from Keith's compound eyes, but compared to the absolute darkness we were going to face, I couldn't help but feel tragically unprepared...

A peculiar noise caught my attention - I turned towards the entrance to see a small shape flopping around on the ground, little wings flailing as it let out a weak squealing noise I guessed came from pain. Closer observation revealed it to be a Zubat as thin as a rail, a wound in its neck contributing to its strange cry. It appeared to be disoriented and in a panic because of it.

"Uh oh," I said, coming over to quell the little creature - I made sure to hold it under its wings to avoid its snapping little teeth; Zubat bites meant an unpleasant assortment of shots for us frail rabies-prone humans. "Easy there, easy...I'm not gonna hurt you. Just calm down, okay?"

The Zubat had to be terrified, but the soothing tone of my voice and the assuring rubbing on the back of its head served to gradually calm the scared little Zubat. It curled its wings up so it could fold into a little ball, its frail body quivering in my hands. It looked so helpless.

I had no love for Zubat, but I felt my heart go out for the creature. "Poor little guy," I cooed, cradling it against my chest; it seemed kind of cold, and I could understand why, what with it laying around on the cool stone floor. The wound in its throat must have done something to its echolocation, because it didn't make any of the quiet, high-pitched sighing noises I'd heard countless other Zubat make at all times. That would make it impossible to tell where it was, not to mention return to its colony...how long had it been like this? Cold and alone and scared, waiting to get eaten by some predator in this cave or to be put out of its misery by passing trainers...unless it'd been so heartlessly ignored this entire time? Could people that came through here really just leave this little creature out here to die all alone, frightened and disoriented? Could people really do that - even to a dime-a-dozen Pokemon like a Zubat?

With that possibility looming over my head, there was no way I could just turn my back and move on. I had to get this little fella some help. The nearby Pokemon Center would work perfectly for that.

As soon as the Nurses got hold of it, it was very clear that the unfortunate Zubat was completely blind - even more so than the average Zubat. Like I'd suspected, the blue bat was unable to use its echolocation due to the injury in its throat, which had severed something important to its echolocation mechanism and changed its cry to a frequency that it couldn't hear, thereby blinding it completely. The Nurses were able to fix the wound and patch it up nicely, but the damage remained: the Zubat couldn't use echolocation. This would make it impossible for it to navigate caves, identify predators, or locate food, thereby dooming the unfortunate pokemon to death in its original habitat. If it went back out into those caves, the Zubat would die. It wasn't able to look after itself anymore. Someone had to take care of it.

The Nurse Joy in charge of the Pokemon Center offered to take it into custody herself to send it to a pokemon sanctuary, I decided to ask the Zubat myself. "What do you think, little one?" I asked her - the Nurses said she was female. "Do you want to go somewhere where people can take care of you?"

The Zubat shook her head vigorously, letting out a hoarse squeak as she pressed her head into my chest, burrowing into my shirt slightly. She seemed to take a liking to me.

I smiled and stroked her ears. "Do you want to stay with me?"

She nodded again, emitting a pair of squeaks that - to me, at least - sounded like confirmation. I glanced up to the Nurse, who was still looking at the way I was cradling the little Zubat, then smiled at me. "I guess a caring soul is all that matters here," she said. "Do you have a pokeball?"

I did. One tap on the noggin and a brief jerking later, and the pokeball chimed to indicate a successful capture. I released her just as quickly as I'd captured her, cradling the little blue bat in my arms like a teddy bear. "I think I'll call you Rika. How's that sound?"

Rika squeaked with a nod, forming her wide mouth into a toothy little smile. I danced my fingers over her smooth blue belly, causing her to shriek and thrash her wings in what equaled to her giggles and laughter. I fell in love with that little winged squeaky toy immediately.

My team felt like a full family again: Tyler and I were the parents, Jade and Keith were brother and sister, Twitch was...well...Twitch, and Rika was the new baby girl. Standing there with my squeaking Zubat in my arms, Jade and Keith beside me, Tyler's vine wrapped snugly around my hand...I was the mother. They were all my family. Twitch didn't really fit in, seeming more like a distant adopted son that was just sort of _there, _but I was sure he'd warm up to me one day. I'm sure somewhere deep in that weird, electric brain of his was the heart of a little lover boy...or a robot. Either way, he'd settle in with the group later. They always did.

But enough of all those weird, poetry-esque thoughts; we had a cave to get through, and it wasn't going to clear itself. Time to get exploring.

Easier said than done, of course. Even with a flashlight, navigating the pitch-black interior of the rocky cavern was almost as difficult as going in completely blind. A cloud of Zubat shrieked overhead, causing me to duck my head and Keith to grip around my neck with one arm, the other raised and pointed at the blind Pokemon in warning, highlighting them with his crimson stare. Whether it was in heed of his threat or because they had no idea we were there, they passed by without incident, and I sighed. I could already tell this was going to be a challenge.

Which it was. Have you ever tried navigating a room at night when you just got done looking at something really bright, then stumble around over every single object possible? That's kind of how we went about Rock Tunnel. It was tense walking: every other stone was alive and pumping its fists at us, every inch of air was a possible path for an intercepting Zubat to take to bite me right in the face, and the distant, deep bellowing that seemed to come from the earth itself indicated the presence of wild Onix - which, in this dark and tight environment, would be a nightmare to face off against. It was one thing to fight them - it was another if you were getting jumped by them. A standard battle and an ambush were two very, very different scenarios. Of course, we had my flashlight, but what good was a beam of light if it only highlighted the things that were practically in our faces anyway?

Keith handled everything that came at us with aplomb. Wild Mankey, Geodude, Zubat, the occasional Graveler and Sandshrew...none of them lasted more than one or two turns before my proud Beedrill warrior came buzzing back up to me, perching on my back with his head on my shoulder with a satisfied purr, glowing eyes searching the darkness for something else to brutalize. I couldn't have been more proud if I tried. It felt good to have something so powerful and caring as my own personal bodyguard.

Jade and Tyler didn't have to come out much, but we would occasionally get jumped by a few Zubat or a particularly feisty Mankey, at which point they would take turns swatting the violent wildlife aside like pins in a bowling alley. As soon as Keith had gotten his fill, they both worked together to help clear the way, using excellent tag-team moves and bone-jarring strikes to knock out whatever came at us, regardless of type or stature. Those guys were a regular two-Pokemon wrecking crew.

Rika was still frail and trembling, so she got a special spot with me, nice and safe in the little cradle I made for her with my arms. She was so cute and vulnerable, I didn't have the heart to send her out into battle yet, even against the most feeble of Zubat. She could hear their echolocation, so she'd know where they were, but she was still blind to her own signals, which would be more than crippling...no, Rika wasn't a fighter yet. Maybe sometime in the future, but for now she was just my cuddle buddy as we dredged through the darkness of the cavern. She was being especially brave - she didn't even flinch anymore when she heard the sounds of combat, merely perking her ears to hear what she could and gauge who was winning. Maybe she was tiny, but Rika wasn't without her share of courage as well.

Twitch, however, was another story. Not to say that he was cowardly - in fact, he didn't know what fear was. That may sound great, as some of the most fearless Pokemon in the world don't _need _fear since they're so powerful, but your average Voltorb that I just caught that didn't have any Electric-type moves? THAT was something that needed fear. Unfortunately, Twitch had none: every battle was met with the same reckless charge and poker face, just as every attack was countered and retaliated against without a second thought, just as likely to charge forward to his immanent doom as he was to dole out the finishing blow. Tyler had stepped in more than once to pull the reckless Voltorb out of harm's way before the little berserker could get himself killed. We didn't need any more deaths - especially not pointless ones.

That didn't mean Twitch didn't need some of his own training, however, and I didn't have much choice but to put him back in front as we continued along. He was going to have to get stronger if he was going to stand a chance, and the only way to do that was to battle. Fortunately, Sonicboom was still a useful move. All I had to do was run damage control while he gradually split the enemy's health down in chunks before victory was ours. Now if only he didn't get so damn much damage done to himself in the meantime...

One of the sets of footsteps behind me stopped, and I paused as well, shining the light back to see who had stopped. "Jade? What's up?"

My Drowzee didn't say anything, just raised a finger, looking off into the darkness with a distant expression, as if listening for something. The rest of us stopped and listened as well, trying to figure out what it was when she suddenly ran straight at me, shoving me as hard as she could. "Drowzee!" _Look out!_

Not a second later, the entire wall to my left exploded into dust and rubble, sending boulders the size of my head flying every which way. I cried in alarm and lost my balance, tumbling to the ground, careful with my grip to not let Rika get hurt or pinned. Jade scrambled off me and whirled around, cupping a cloud of telekinetic energy between her hands. Tyler and Keith were up as well, blades up and vines extended, ready to fight.

I heard it before I saw it, but once I did, it was impossible to miss: a mighty Onix reared up its head and bellowed its war cry, knocking chips out of the ceiling and causing hundreds of Zubat around us to squeal in alarm and take to the air, creating a storm of thrashing wings and pained screeches around the stone behemoth like a thunderstorm. All it needed was bolts of lightning and some rain and it'd be a scene right out of one of those adventurous sea movies. Heck, it was practically just a Gyarados made out of stone, so it wasn't hard to imagine myself in the midst of a great storm, the wind howling around me...

But I didn't follow that train of thought, my mind instead going into tactical mode. Onix were big, but we'd handled them before, and Tyler had gotten good at dismissing the rocky snakes before they could even dole a blow - their heads were their weak point. We could brush this monster aside and keep going without a second thought. On the other hand, these things brought out experience in buckets, and it could be just what we needed to jump-start some of our new recruit's training. For all its size and fearsome appearance, when handled correctly, Onix were no more a challenge than a stray Geodude.

Feeling confident and deciding to take a risk, I called out over the screams of frightened Zubat, "Twitch, use Sonicboom!"

My Voltorb droned a reply without hesitating and rolled forward, spinning rapidly in place to generate a large wave of crescent-shape energy, which split the air in two as it launched forward and collided with the Onix's stony hide. The giant roared in pain as a large line was carved into its body, whirling around and bring its tail about to smash my Pokemon into dust - and nearly us along with it.

I didn't have much choice but to move in unison with my Pokemon, lest we all be pounded into nothing by the gargantuan rock snake, but I didn't miss a beat, scanning the area with my flashlight to make sure Twitch was okay - the dust made it hard, but fortunately he was bright red. That made it a little easier. "Nice shot, Twitch! Hit it with another one!"

My Voltorb twitched once and fired a second wave of sonic energy at the Onix, splitting the air and a bit of the creature's hide with the swift attack, and even though it was a glancing blow, it didn't cause the creature any less pain, nor did it inflict less damage. Feeling lucky, I had Twitch fire another shot, only to have my luck run out and watch as the move fired off and landed harmlessly into the wall, gouging a rut into it. Having been on the move up until now and using the creature's pain to cover up his vulnerable position, Twitch was now a sitting target out in the open, practically asking to get hit. "Twitch, look out!"

He went to move, but he was still feeling as confident as I had before, and he didn't move quite as quickly as he should have or could have - the Onix's tail swept across the battle field once again, catching the comparatively tiny Voltorb in its grasp as it swung its tail around in a swift motion to coil itself in a ball, the prone form of a Voltorb buried somewhere in the center. The sound of grinding stone against stone met my ears, and my pulse quickened - Bind. Even if it wasn't a particularly strong move stat-wise, let's face it: a giant snake squeezing something is what it is. There's no way to get around how deadly the dreaded Bind move an Onix can dole out really is. I could only imagine the sound of bones breaking somewhere inside that big cluster of rock and living boulders...

"Twitch!" I cried, calm broken. If he could reply, I didn't hear it. My entire team sprung into motion at that point: vines from Tyler thrashed and flailed, pounding the Onix's hide like a drum. Jade used her telekinesis to reach out and pull the Onix's body apart, trying to ease up the pressure and free Twitch while Keith flew up at the Onix's face, karate chopping its head with the steely lengths of his blade-arms, trying to split its skull in two. Despite the joint effort, nothing seemed to work: the Onix wouldn't release its victim, and all my cries for Twitch remained unanswered. It looked like he was trapped...and the legendary death grip that an Onix held over its prey wasn't just a rumor. I only wish I could have found out some other way. _"Twitch!"_

Without warning, a bomb went off. An ear-splitting explosion blasted through the length of the cave, rebounding off the walls and playing again to further damage the hearing of whoever heard it. Shockwaves smashed the Onix's hide and sent pieces of it flying through the air like shrapnel as fire rolled out and billowed into the air, forming a mini-mushroom cloud. The power of the explosion split the Onix in two, sending its head flying off in some other direction while its lower half slammed to the ground, twitching occasionally as the intense heat baked the stony exterior of the mammoth Rock-type's hide.

It was a spectacular show, although the fact that I knew my Voltorb was the cause of that explosion took away any thrill I might have had at such a sight. "No! Twitch!"

The panicked Zubat of the cave eventually thinned out, dispersing to their own dark corners to tend to their probably bleeding ears. When the roar of the explosion finally stopped echoing off the walls of the cave, an eerie silence descending in its place. The shock of the blast must have been enough to fracture just a little bit of the ceiling overhead, as a single sliver of light dropped down from the top of the cave to its stony floor, perfectly aligned with a single trickle of wispy smoke that wafted up in a narrow little path, curl near the top, and fade out of existence. There was a black spot near where it originated, and it was almost perfectly spherical in shape...was it the body of my deceased Voltorb, smoldering lightly after the catastrophic explosion that signified his death? Or was it just the spot where Twitch had been squeeze that kept the Onix's body just barely pulled apart enough so the flames could scorch a spot on the ground, marking the place where his life had ended?

In the end, it didn't really matter, and I didn't care. Picking up my flashlight, I returned Rika to her pokeball - a place I knew for sure that she would be safe - and started to slowly walk away from the battle zone. "Come on, you guys," I said just above a whisper - why, then, did my voice echo so much when I spoke? It was almost like it was mocking me...or maybe that was the cave itself? "We have to keep going."

My teammates gave the site of their fallen comrade one last look before turning back and heading after me. The rest of the trek through the cave went by in a solemn silence.

I pushed the shame out of my mind for the time being, forcing away the self-loathing so I could concentrate completely on getting out of this god-forsaken cave. We didn't run into any more Onix, and while the Zubat had been driven off by the commotion, the Mankey were even more frenzied than ever and made up for the otherwise notable lack in activity throughout the cave. Tyler just swatted them aside with his vines and cleared the way for us as we continued silently on.

Nobody said anything. We didn't have to. I knew that they knew it was my fault Twitch had died, and I wasn't about to say anything otherwise. As long as I had the guilt, that meant they could all sleep with a clear conscience, and that was good enough for me. I could handle the weight of another death on my shoulders. Just as long as it wasn't something they had to deal with. Better me than them.

We walked around in darkness and silence for another hour before I finally saw light - sweet, glorious light. The second I saw it, I returned Tyler, returned Jade, and while I couldn't find Keith, I knew he wouldn't be far, instead keeping his empty pokeball in my hands as I walked out into the glorious whiteness, savoring the sting that came with my eyes suddenly having to adjust, inhaling a deep breath-

The darkness came back suddenly as something came down over my head and hands grabbed me from behind. I cried out and struggled, but I heard male voices outside of the coarse fabric of the bag they'd bound me with, and I knew I was no match - not against two fully grown men. I was alone in the mountains, I'd been foolish enough to return all of my Pokemon, and now I was completely at their mercy, doomed to whatever fate they had in store for me-

The hands released me just as quickly as they grabbed me, and I took advantage of the sudden confusion by dropping to the ground, yanking the bag off my head and tucking into a ball, reaching out to kick whatever presence I felt nearby. To my surprise, I heard cries of pain and alarm, and when I looked up to see who had revved a chainsaw, my heart suddenly lifted up in relief and joy. "Keith!"

My guardian Beedrill was in the midst of complete rage. The two men that had grabbed me - a tall lanky one and a stocky, muscle-thick man in a Hiker's uniform - scrambled away from the black and yellow visage of death, fearing for their lives as Keith hissed a deep, reverberating buzzing noise not unlike that of a boat starting up, skin glowing red from a recently used Focus Energy. One man chucked out a Pokeball, which opened up and let loose a wild-looking Primape. The creature barely had a time to emit a noise when Keith had struck it with an Aerial Ace - it only took a split second for his blade-arm to punch into its nose, erupt out the other side of its head coated in crimson brains, and kill it instantly, then a second longer for Keith to yank his blade free, heft the lifeless Primape over his head, and chuck it back at my assailants, knocking the one man clear off his feet from the impact. Fearing for their lives and knowing their Pokemon wouldn't stand a chance against my Beedrill's fury, the two men turned tail and fled, crying out screams of terror and pain as Keith charged after them, planting stings across every inch of body that he could find and encouraging them to run faster, if they didn't want to suffer a similar fate.

I watched the scene with a smug feeling of satisfaction, and the second I felt vulnerable that my protector wasn't there, he returned, as if summoned by the very sensation. I reached out and hugged my guardian Beedrill, squeezing him as tight as I could, rubbing my cheek against the bristles of his firm exoskeleton. Whether it was me or because of the exertion, he felt particularly warm to my touch, only making me want to embrace him further. "Thank you," I murmured, burying my face in the crook of his scrawny neck. "Thank you."

Keith's violent demeanor had done a perfect 180 by now, transforming the bloody killer into the image of my hero in an instant - he let out a quiet, low buzzing that sounded more like a purr to my ears, and I inhaled slow, deep breaths as his scrawny, bloody arms fell around my shoulders, antennae tickling my neck. His mandibles brushed against my ear as he lightly said, "Drill. Bee." Even if it was in a tongue I couldn't understand, I heard the words crystal clear: _I'm right here. It's okay. _

Shaken and vulnerable, that was exactly what I'd needed to hear. I allowed my composure to crumble away in my Beedrill's grasp, and I started to sob - cried from the fright, the tension, and the guilt I felt from the recent death that had fallen on my hands. Even in my most fragile state, even when I didn't deserve him, Keith was right there for me, ready to chase the bad guys away and protect me from the hurt and the grief. He'd always be there for me - my loyal guardian bee. My knight in shining armor. The warrior who would split a hundred skulls before he'd let anyone touch a single hair on my body.

No matter what I did or how unworthy I was, my Pokemon would always be there for me, ready to protect me and shield me from darkness, just like I'd protect them. Their love was unconditional. They would always be there for me.

And maybe that was the real reason that I broke down and cried.

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN:<strong>_

Poor Twitch. I hardly knew yee...rest in peace. x'(

I feel bad about the time it took to get this up, guys. I can't promise anything, since it took this long to begin with, but I CAN say that I'll try better to get the next chapter up faster next time. Not that that's necessarily saying much, but still.

Happy grinding, everyone. x3


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